Playing for Keeps
by mamasutra
Summary: Edward Cullen had a great life or so he thought until his on again, off again girlfriend left him because of his lack of commitment and general lack of funds. His solution is simple to win her back, but in doing so he sent on a wild goose chase with a girl that just may be everything he needs.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"So, what did she say?" Jasper yelled to me as he paced back and forth with the squalling baby in his arms. The nose was deafening and completely distracting as I watched him struggle with his new born son.

"What the fuck," I muttered as I rolled my eyes at him only to earn a loud hush while he attempted to soothe the baby like the fucking moron he had become since his son's birth.

"You can't talk that way in front of the baby," he scolded with a stern look on his face that was comical as he shielded his child from me as if my words would hurt the child.

"Oh, sorry," I replied with my best apologetic grin that I only used when I was in serious shit.

"I forgot that Rose keep your balls in her purse. I guess she forgot to give them to you today." I mocked as he sputtered in response, muttering cuss words, but I knew I heard the distinct sound of _fuck you_ escape his almost sealed lips.

"I'm sorry. What was again daddy dearest?" I mocked as he turned to face me with a hard look that made me laugh as he swallowed every harsh word he wanted to say while rocking the baby a little too hard to be considered soothing.

"I'd be careful there, asshole," I mentioned as I motioned towards the baby that was bouncing in his arms while wailing as if he was in pain.

"Fuck," he muttered in frustration as he finally looked down at his son who continued to scream his displeasure, loud and clear. Once he looked at his son he scrambled around, pulling out a bottle from the bag he brought along like the fucking pussy he had become before scurrying off to warm it in my microwave.

"Jesus, man, don't you ever clean this damn thing?" he called out to me in disgust as I laughed at him. It had been ages since I had cleaned it. What was the need when everything I cooked came in plastic containers and never touched the slightly disgusting food splattered interior.

The kid's screaming continued on as Jasper returned to the room only to thrust the screaming infant at me as if he was passing off a baton.

"Sorry, dude. No can do. Babies hate me," I stated simply as I held my hands up, refusing to take the small bundle of piss and vinegar that was too much like his mother.

"Babies don't hate you. Babies can't hate anyone," he half whined as he waved the baby in front of me as if waving the object would entice me to want to hold the pissed off child.

"Ok, but your cunt of a wife does, so I think that's a good enough reason not to hold him. Plus, there is the whole six degrees of separation and all," I retorted as I watched his face harden for a second.

"Rosalie is not a cunt," he growled as I laughed at him.

"I love her and she... She just hates you that's all," he muttered, telling me truths that I already knew. I was well aware that Rosalie hated me ever since I fucked and chucked her sister Irina. What she didn't understand was that Irina was just collateral damage in the war of breaking up and making up with my beloved Alice. I never meant to hurt her. I just needed a fuck to even out the score from when Alice dated another guy. I thought she understood, but in the end, Irina cried, and Rosalie beat the shit out of my car with a baseball bat while Jasper watched. He always was a pussy when it came to that woman.

"And what the hell is this six degrees of separation bullshit," he muttered as he sat the child down on the couch before placing a pillow in front of him to keep him from rolling off even though the kid was nowhere near rolling just yet.

"I won't touch anything that has been anywhere near Whoralie's pussy so that makes little man here off limits." I snorted with a nod to the kid who was red-faced from screaming while Jasper gawked at me for a moment before shaking his head at me.

"That's my wife, and I think you would do well to remember that," he countered back in a firm tone as he gave me warning look.

"Hey, I didn't make up the nickname. James did. I just think its fitting. I also think _you'd_ do well to remember the night we all met her. She was working as a Hooters waitress who took you out behind the building to blow you by the dumpster," I countered back as he looked at me with an unbelievable look on his face.

"Nothing screams class like a blow job by the dumpster," I teased as he finally silenced the kid with a bottle.

"You're a dick," he retorted as he looked at me, not so much angry as he was resigned, since I knew the truth about his beloved wife who was acting as if she wasn't a huge whore now that she wore his fucking ring.

"Yeah, whatever," I mumbled as I brought the bottle of beer that I had been drinking up to my lips while he motioned for me to bring me his as well.

"So, what did she say?" he asked as he looked at me with a tired sigh now that the demon spawn was happy.

"She said, _E__dward, we need to talk,_" I stated while mimicking Alice's high pitched tone perfectly. After dating her off and on throughout college, I could identify that bitchy whine of hers in my sleep.

"Sounds serious," he replied as he looked at me with a knowing look. I knew what he was thinking.

"No way, man," I stated firmly as I shook my head at him.

"No way is this a break up. Things have been good. I mean, really fucking good. Like anal beads and tit fucking good…" I began in a panicked tone as he shook his head at me.

"Ok, for starters, I hope the anal beads were used on her, not you, and secondly, how the hell would you tit fuck the girl since she's as flat as twelve year old boy. Shit, I have bigger tits than she does," he chuckled as I gave him the finger in response to his bullshit answers, even if some of it were true.

"Edward, you and Alice…You break up more than you are together," he sighed, looking down at his son.

"Why would she want to end it now?" I demanded from him since to me it made no sense. We were young. We had our whole lives in front of us now, and what better way to spend it than together.

"I don't know," he sighed as he looked from his son to me with a shrug that told me that he could give a shit about Alice.

"Maybe she wants something more?" he offered to me as I took another drink from the near empty bottle.

"A lot of her friends are getting married and moving on while you and she are just stuck in this relationship that makes Sid's and Nancy's look normal," he stated with another shrug that only pissed me off at his casual dismissal of my problems.

"Fuck you," I muttered as I stood up to grab another beer from the fridge.

"I'd never stab her death," I called out to him as I opened the door to the fridge to see what else I had to drink as he barked out a laugh in response to my words.

"Ok, but have you ever thought about the idea that maybe Alice wants more?" he called out to me in a serious tone that caused my stomach to turn with his words.

"What do you mean _more_?" I gasped in horror as I entered the room to glare at him.

"You know what I mean," he scoffed with a dark chuckle that made me cringe since I did know what he meant.

"Marriage. Commitment. Something more than just the key to your apartment on her key ring," he snorted, causing me to laugh out loud over his suggestion since it was better than crying.

"Are you fucking crazy? I didn't give her a key," I sputtered as he looked at me with a dark look before he laughed out loud at me.

"See, that's what I'm talking about, E." He sighed as he switched positions with the child so that the baby was up on his shoulders as he tried to burp him.

"Alice probably wants marriage. Fuck, all her friends are getting married. Rosie and I got married," he reasoned as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, well if Rosie would have swallowed that night instead, you wouldn't be married right now," I snickered as he paused his unending beating on the baby's back to give me the finger. It was common knowledge Jasper and Rosalie got married because he knocked her up, and I was not one to let him forget that little fact either.

"I was going to marry her anyway. Andrew just moved things along. That's all," he countered back very matter of factly without ever stopping the rhythmic pounding on the kid's back.

"That's what you do, man. You graduate college, get a job and get married to begin the rest of your life," he replied simply as if I was the idiot in the room, not him.

"Fuck that," I muttered as I looked away from him, feeling the burn of anxiety rush through my veins as I thought of marriage. I knew he was right to an extent since that was what most had done.

Emmett was first, marrying Angela right after we graduated from college, followed by Jasper and Rose last year, leaving only James as well as myself as the last men standing. I knew Alice had been hinting at marriage, but I just couldn't see it. I was barely twenty-eight. I had just found a job. I had shit for money and student loans coming out of my ass, so the idea of taking a wife was too much. It was too fucked up, yet I didn't want to lose her either.

"You really think that's what she wants?" I asked him, attempting to be serious even though I was never serious about anything beyond my work and the beer that I drank.

"Yeah, I do." He sighed just as the baby boy let out a loud belch that tainted the air around us with the scent of rancid breast milk.

"Maybe it's time to man up, Edward," Jasper said with a grin that suggested he even knew how farfetched his damn idea was.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for catching all my commas and other mistakes. Any remaining lingering mistake are mine alone.**

**Not a ton of drama in this one, just a lot of stupidity. Hope you enjoy : )**

**I have plans of updating once a week on hump day while posting teasers on my facebook page for the following week.**

**Until next week friends,**

**Mamasutra**

**I have plans of up**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The hours had ticked by since Jasper had left me alone to face Alice. She was late. She told me she would be over by six, but at eight thirty I was still sitting there alone. I was used to it when it came to her. She was never on time. She had to make sure every hair was in place and her makeup was impeccable. That was Alice, and while it was annoying as fuck at times, it also was something that I loved about her. She cared about how she looked, and that was important to me.

By nine o'clock, there was a soft knock on the door. Three fucking hours late, but she was here- finally.

"Alice," I grimaced as I opened the door to find her. I wanted her to know that I was pissed, and her poor behavior would not be tolerated even though we both knew it was a lie. I would allow it as long as she gave me what I wanted.

"Edward," she breathed out in a rush before pushing me back into the apartment with more force than what was necessary, but that was Alice. She was a go-getter: the type of woman who came, saw and conquered all within a day. It was what I had always loved about her while at the same time hated about her because of how pushy it made her.

She kept pushing me backwards until I stumbled upon the couch with a thud that hurt as my back hit the wooden part of the frame hard. Once I was seated, I was able to look at the girl whom had bulldozed her way into my apartment as well as heart.

Alice Brandon was not a natural beauty; she had to work for it, not that I cared at all. I was glad to have a woman who put so much time and attention into looking good. She was always put together with her make up just so and her outfit just right. This time was no different as she stood before me in her corporate garb that consisted of a black pencil skirt and a light blue blouse that matched her eyes. She looked lovely and plain just like she strived for.

"I only have a few minutes, so we'll have to make this quick," she half growled as she looked at me with an impatient look as if I was the one who had called this damn meeting.

"Don't look at me like I'm the one who's wasting your time after you've made me wait for three fucking hours just so we could talk," I barked at her and then watched her flinch over the harshness of my tone.

"I should have done this by this phone," she sighed as she looked away with a guilty look on her face that set off a round of unease inside of me as I watched her shift back and forth on her heals like a child.

"Edward," she sighed nervously before taking a deep breath as if to steady herself, which only added to my anxiety.

"You remember about month ago when we went to see your mom and dad?" she asked in a soft tone that was filled with regret and a nervousness that made me swallow back the bile that was on the verge of erupting from my mouth. My mind raced as I thought about that trip back to see them. It had been their anniversary, and I brought Alice with me to go the damn party they threw in honor of their thirty-fifth. It was loud and boisterous. It ended with me drunk off my ass here fucking Alice in what had been my childhood bedroom. It had been a good trip, or so I thought, but now sitting on the couch thinking back to that weekend of parental bliss, booze and sex, maybe I was wrong since all I could think of was the glaring fact that I hadn't used a condom. I always used a condom even though Alice was on the pill because I never wanted to risk getting her pregnant.

"You're pregnant,"I choked as I began hyperventilating over not just the idea of being a father, but being the father of Alice's child.

"We can't…I can't…" I sputtered breathlessly as I struggled to breathe while Alice watched me with a look of horror painted upon her face.

"What the fuck, Edward?" she screeched at me in anger, hurting my ears with the tone of her voice just as the chest pains set in alerting me that my heart was on the verge of exploding.

"Oh my god," I muttered as I closed my eyes, willing sweet death to take me instead of the hell I had created here with her.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" she screamed at me before shoving me hard back into couch. I didn't care. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't think about anything but the fact that I had fucked up royally.

"Are you hyperventilating?" she demanded in disbelief as she watched me struggle to take air.

"Jesus," she muttered angrily as she stomped out of the room, leaving me to die in peace only to return a moment later with the small brown sack that once held the bottle of champagne I had brought to celebrate the fact that it was Tuesday night.

"Breathe into this," she said as she thrust the bag in my face with a scowl that aged her dramatically. I took the bag with shaking hands and breathed in and out as she watched me with a careful eye until my breathing slowed to a more normal rate.

"Edward, I'm not pregnant," she said firmly as she watched my face for reaction, and I did not fail her.

"Oh thank you sweet Jesus!" I exclaimed happily as the weight that had been pressed into my chest was lifted immediately, allowing me to breathe once more.

"I'm breaking up with you," she continued on, stopping my celebration with her cold words.

"What?" I sputtered in shock as she stared at me with a hard look that cooled my happiness down to nothing.

"You heard me. I'm breaking up with you," she repeated slowly as if I had a mental defect.

"Why?" I demanded as my ego roared to life over her rejection.

"Why?" she cackled in aloud condescending tone that grated over my skin.

"Edward, take a look at yourself," she said with a cruel smile as she motioned towards me with a flick of her wrist as if the reason was obvious.

"You are a twenty-eight year old man whose idea of commitment is an apartment that he talked the landlord into going month to month on the rent since signing a lease was too much to ask," she mocked me as I sat there in stunned silence.

"You have an engineering degree, Edward. A damn degree, yet instead of focusing on your job at Marcus, you insist in working in that damn comic book shop like a fucking high school student," she growled at me, hitting the mark with her cold words.

"Aro is a good friend who just needs my help," I hissed at her as she rolled her eyes over my words.

"Aro is an asshole who never got over being a child, and you keep feeding into his insanity," she responded in a haughty tone that made me laugh. She had no idea that Aro was a fucking genius who was one acceptance letter away from being a voice for a generation with his sci-fi book that he had written.

"Listen, you're a nice guy, Edward, but I want more," she stated firmly as she looked at me with hard eyes.

"You want more?' I mocked and then watched her face turn red over my words.

"You always want more. More this and more that. More money and more attention," I spat at her as she growled in response.

"I might be a…" I began, but she interrupted me.

"A spoiled, lazy, man child who is a mediocre lay at best," she responded in a bored tone that was a contrast to the rage I could see in her eyes.

"A mediocre lay?" I screeched at her in shocked, mortally wounded by her cruel words.

"Fuck you, Alice. I rocked your world and how well you know it!" I screamed at her while she laughed loud and pitiless at me as I pushed myself to stand while knocking her out of the way. Alice didn't care; she was too busy laughing at me as if I was joke in this situation.

"You see, Edward, that's what wrong," she cackled at me.

"You're more upset over the fact that I called you a lousy lay," she began, but I stopped her.

"Mediocre. You said mediocre," I corrected her with a growl as my pride took another hit over her suggestion that I was a lousy lay.

"Whatever," she dismissed before continuing on." What I'm saying that is that it ought to bother you that I called you a lazy man child or a fucking bum," she laughed as I walked past her trying to hide the fact that her words hurt me.

"I'm just saying that I want more," she continued on as I stomped out to the kitchen to grab another beer from the fridge as if nothing was wrong when everything was wrong.

"I want to know that I'm in a relationship that's going somewhere. I want kids and a husband someday," she called out to me as I cringed over the idea of kids and marriage. I knew that was what she wanted, and I cursed Rosalie as well as Angela for that. It was all their wedding plans and bull shit that started this mess.

"I want to go to Europe," she finally stated as I came back with a beer in hand.

"So, that's what this is about?" I asked her as I looked at her, trying to deflect the break-up that was looming.

"You want marriage," I stated and then watched her nod her head not backing down.

"You want to go to Europe," I stated as she raised her chin in a challenge as if she was prepared to fight over it.

"Well, fuck it," I exclaimed in a raspy voice after taking a long pull off my beer bottle.

"Let's do it then," I stated with a wicked grin as I called her bluff. Alice was a horrible liar and an even worse poker player.

"Let's get married," I stated in what I hoped what a firm tone, but it came out as an unsteady whine instead.

"You're so full of shit," she grumbled as she looked around the room before locating her purse that she had discarded when she walked in.

"You don't want to get married, Edward," she stated as she walked over to her purse calling me out on my bullshit for the first time.

"You don't want me or the future I want, so it's over," she continued on as she turned to leave me.

"Is this about Europe?" I asked her as she shook her at me while walking to the door.

"Because I will take you to fucking Europe if that's what you want," I stated firmly as she started to chuckle in low, sad manner that hurt me.

"You don't have the money, Edward, and it doesn't matter any way," she called as she opened the door to leave. She paused for just a moment, giving me time to catch her at the door. I wrapped my arms around her holding her to me to keep her from leaving me like I had done so many times in our ten years together.

"Don't leave, Alice," I whispered into her ear and then smiled as I felt her slender frame shudder against mine. It was a shudder that I knew all too well. It told me that I was winning, which wasn't a surprise since I always won.

"We can fix this," I whispered to her as she remained still in my arms.

"No, we can't," she replied in a low, thick whisper that told me of the tears she was about to cry even though I couldn't see them.

"Good-bye, Edward," she stated in a firm voice as she pulled herself free from my grasp before walking away.

**AN:**

**Happy Wednesday!**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for fixing my commas and just being a good friend. Any lingering mistakes are mine alone.**

**Before you ask, no, this is not an Alice/Edward story.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I sat my cubicle, typing away at the report I had been assigned when a shadow fell over me. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"What's up douche?" he called to me as I shook my head before turning to face one of my oldest and most annoying friends.

James DuPuis.

I met him in the ninth grade. We both were chasing after the same girl, and it ended with a fist fight in the lunch room while the girl, along with the entire school, watched us. In the end, I walked away with bloody nose and a new friend who was nursing a black eye while agreeing to the age old code of civilized men which was bros before hoes.

"Look at you, asshole," he said with a wide grin, flashing me his too white teeth as I rolled my eyes at him. He had stopped by my cube every day since my break up with Alice to taunt me into going out with him for women or a pussy hunt as he preferred to call it.

"What?" I asked as I spun in my chair to face him.

"I'm just saying you look good man," he continued on as he leaned against the partition wall with an asshole smirk on his face.

"I would say the same bout you, but that greasy pony tail of yours makes you look like a gay-for-pay porn star," I dead panned causing him to bark out a laugh at me.

"Well, it's good to know that even though the troll stole your balls, she didn't take your sense of humor," he cackled as I rolled my eyes at him one more.

"Stop rolling your eyes at me. It's too much like my fifteen year old sister," he sighed before taking a sip from the coffee cup he constantly carried with him.

"How is Chelsea?" I purred with a wide smile like the fucking creeper I could be while he cringed over the implication in my tone.

"You will stay the fuck away from my sister," he growled at me as I laughed in response at his overprotective brother routine that he went into any time any of us mentioned his sister.

"Don't look at me like that. I do not subscribe to your old enough to bleed, old enough to breed philosophy," I stated with a grin as I held my hands up in mock surrender.

"Besides, it's not me who has a score to settle, that's Emmett," I half laughed as I watched his angry scowl fade into a dreamy look at the mention of Emmett's sister.

"Bella," he sighed dreamily as if her name said it all.

Bella McCarty was the younger sister of our friend Emmett. She was cute, from what I remember of her four years ago at Emmet's wedding, but young; too young since she was four years younger than us.

"If Emmett even hears you breathe her name he will lose his shit, so I would tone it down if I were you," I hissed as I slid my chair out into the walkway beside him to see if Emmett, who was only two cubicles down, heard Bella's name.

"Fuck him," he mumbled in a whisper as he took a drink of the stale coffee he always carried with him.

"Yeah, well he will fuck you up like you so richly deserve," I whispered to him as he smiled as if he was reliving the whole sordid affair.

"It would be well worth it," he sighed before shoving me back into the cubical so he could tell me the story all over again, as if I hadn't heard it a million times.

"Jesus," he half moaned with his eyes half closed while shook my head at him.

"She had a fantastic body," he whispered to me, not caring that I had motioned for him to stop since I knew this damn story by heart.

"Tits like this," he continued on as he mimicked cupping a pair of obscenely large tits.

"An ass like that," he half growled as he made the shape of a shelf with his hands.

"And hips that were meant to be used as fuck handles," he moaned as he bit his knuckles like the fucking pervert he would turn into any time Emmett's sister was mentioned.

"But with everything she had… none of them compared to her pussy," he sighed dreamily as if he was talking about the best fucking sandwich he had ever eaten.

"It was tight and sweet so fucking sweet," he whispered in a hiss of pleasure that made me feel uncomfortable listening to him speak while he licked his lips in a disturbing manner.

"Listen, if you need a minute to go jerk off in the men's room don't let me stop you since one of us should probably get some fucking work done around here," I motioned for him to go since I could not stand to listen to him go on.

"Golden, that's what it was, Edward. The girl's pussy was golden. The best I've ever had and we both know I've had a lot," he rambled on about her just like he would do every time he mentioned the girl.

"And she fucking loved me," he giggled like a love sick pervert as I shook my head at him as he started doing hip thrusts.

"_Oh, Jamie, give it to me,"_ he caterwauled in a high pitched tone as he humped my cubical wall like the fucking sicko he was.

"And give it to her, I did," he snickered just as our secretary, Jess, walked by, pausing only to watch James hump my wall like a fucking idiot. She was young, pretty and blonde-just James's type. It was too bad she hated him with a passion that made me laugh.

"Hey, Jess." He smirked as his calmed his hip just as she began to walk by once more.

"Stop me if you see anything you like," he called to her as she continued walking away from us as if she had not seen him dry hump the wall.

"Go fuck yourself, Jamie," she responded without looking back at us.

"She wants me," James said with a smile as he watched the woman walk with her hips swaying in time to her step.

"I can tell," I mumbled as I turned back to my work since I was done with that conversation and James.

"So anyway, I was stopping by to tell you to put on your suit since tonight we are going out," he stated simply, stopping me as I shook my head no.

"I won't take no for an answer, dickface, so just plan on it," he stated as he turned to leave me just as Tyler Crowley stopped to join in the conversation.

"What's up Teabagger?" James asked playfully, reminding Tyler of the drunken night he created his own nickname of T-Rex, which quickly morphed in Teabagger since he liked to touch things with his balls. Too bad for Tyler, the nickname stuck.

"Eight o'clock fucker," he yelled to me from down the hall as Tyler and I both watched him go.

"What's at eight o'clock?" I heard Emmett call out to us from two cubicles away. He was always trying to butt into conversations to avoid work just like the rest of us, not that I blamed him since I did the same.

"It's the time I'm coming over tonight fuck that sweet, little wife of yours," I could heard James yell as I shook my head since everyone knew the mention of Angela and anyone else was enough to make Emmett lose his fucking mind. No one messed with Angela. No one.

"Not cool, man. Not fucking cool at all," Emmett growled as he stood up and stomped off after James as we all laughed, knowing that James was about to get his ass handed to him.

The work day ended with a whimper as we all filed out like worker ants to our cars. I wasn't in the mood to go out with James, but it was better than spending a Friday night alone, so once I made it to my place, I leaned up, changed and drove over to James' without any expectation of having a decent night since a night out with James was never decent. Nights out with him had been crazy and once I needed bail money when I went out with him, but decent was never a word I would use for a night out with him.

"Nice outfit fucker," James snickered as I walked in wearing the suit I wore to funerals since I didn't have one and he had insisted on me wearing one.

"Thanks. I got it out of your mom's closet last night after I was done fucking her," I replied with a grin as I happily took the bottle of domestic beer, that was nothing more than piss water, had offered me as I walked in.

"Well, it looked better on her," he stated while I snorted before taking a long pull off the ice cold bottle.

"Seriously man, you look like a mortician," he tsk'd as he looked me over with a critical eye. I gave him the finger as my response to his evaluation. Fuck him.

"And you look like a dickhole, so what's your point?" I snarked in response to his insult, but he just shook his head at me.

"I'm just saying that tonight I'm taking you to the big leagues, so I expected you look half-assed decent," he snipped as I scoffed at his term _big leagues._

"What the fuck do you know about the big leagues?" I chuckled before draining the bottle dry.

"Last time I checked, the women you hooked up with were impressed you had your own car," I continued on as he shook his head while laughing at me once more.

"What was her name? Vee? Dee? Bree?" I taunted as he walked off to grab me another bottle and left me standing in the middle of his sparsely decorated front room.

"Bree. Her name was Bree," he corrected with a defensive tone that made me laugh as I first felt the relaxing effects of the beer I had practically chugged.

"Yeah, wasn't she a cheerleader in high school?" I mocked as he gave me an evil to silence me, not that I cared at all.

"She was on the state championship volleyball team, and fuck you very much man since if I'd still be with her right now if her father wasn't such a prick," he growled at me as I nearly doubled over in laughter.

"Yeah, fuck her dad for caring that his seventeen year old daughter was fucking a twenty-eight year old man. What a prick," I cackled to him as he stomped off only to return with a wicked grin on his face.

"You know, asshole, I was going to be nice to you tonight after the whole incident of the Troll dumping you and all, but if you're going to be a dick, then the kid gloves must come off," he stated firmly as if he was dealing with a petulant child instead of me, his friend for over ten years.

"Alice traded your ass in for Alex Marcus," he proclaimed with a grin that lit up the fucking room while waiting for the fucking horror of the situation to settle over me.

Alex Marcus was the senior engineer that we both reported to. He was a forty year old man who had run through three wives and was rumored to have gone to Mexico for some illegal dick enlargement surgery that left him with elephant balls. He was a moody, demanding prick that acted like a skirt chasing frat boy and got away with it because he was the owner's son. I hated him with a fucking passion, and Alice damn well knew it.

"She wouldn't," I sputtered as he watched me with a smile that made me sick since it told me it was true.

"Oh, dickface, she did. She traded your tired ass in for elephant balls and his buckets of fucking money," he grinned brightly as I stared at him, unsure if I should laugh or puke on the zebra print carpet beneath my feet.

**AN: **

**Thanks for reading! I know this update is early, but I hope you don't mind. I just don't see having the time on Wednesday to update so I thought what the hell, let's do it now!**

**Thanks to everyone who has embraced this imperfect Edward. There is nothing wrong with the perfect man, but sometimes a little imperfection makes a guy interesting.**

**My thanks go out to Tracy for her hard work of fixing my commas and just being an all around awesome friend.**

**Teasers for ch 4 will be posted in my Facebook group.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

We walked into the bar, and I immediately regretted my decision to be out with him as I surveyed our surroundings.

The bar was dimly lit and played older pop music softly in the background as people milled around eyeing each other as if they were in a hotel bar looking for a hook-up. At first I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but as woman after woman passed me, I realized that something was off since each woman I had seen was roughly about the age of my mother.

"What the fuck is going on here?" I hissed to him as I turned toward James with a scowl, but he only answered with a grin.

"Ease the fuck up, E," he chuckled just as a woman stopped before us with a naughty grin and twinkle in her eyes that me nervous.

"James, there you are my sweet boy," she giggled in such a manner that made it clear she was too old to play innocent with us.

"Shelia," he purred to her as he took hold of the woman's hand only to bring it up to his lips for a soft kiss in the middle of her palm that made the woman sigh happily.

"And who is the pretty young man you brought with you tonight?" she asked as the woman looked at me with grin that made my skin crawl since I just fucking knew she was thinking about what I looked like naked.

"This is my friend Edward," James said with a smile for me as I glared at him just as I felt the woman touch my arm.

"His girlfriend just broke up him, so he's in need of some tender loving care," he laughed as I shook my head no at him just as I felt her hand grip my arm and began to pull me away with her.

"Well, you brought him to the right place," the older woman laughed in a teasing manner that made the knot in my stomach intensify as I felt myself being dragged away from James by a surprisingly strong Shelia.

"Really, Shelia, its ok," I sputtered as I was pulled towards the darkest corner of bar to where she had been sitting.

"I insist, Edward," she purred to me as I threw a look of hatred back at James, who trailed behind us. "Besides, the girls will _love _you," she cackled as she pulled me further into the depth of hell where she and her friends held court. "Ladies," Shelia announced loudly with laughter in her voice as she pushed me in front of a table full of older women who looked at me with ravenous eyes as if I was being presented as what was for dinner for these old cougars.

You remember James, right?" she asked as James slid into the red vinyl booth next to an older woman who tried to hide her age by dying her hair a toxic shade of blonde while allowing her ample tits to spill out of her dress on proud display.

"Well, Jamie brought a friend for us to play with tonight," Shelia purred seductively as she presented me like a fucking prize.

"Ooh, he's a sweet one for sure, Shelia," the oldest of the group cooed to me in a throaty smoker's voice before pulling the straw in her drink into her mouth in the most obscene manner that I had ever witnessed while I cringed in response.

"Sit down by me," one of the other women called, but I ignored her as I opted to glare at James, who was making eyes at red haired woman to his left.

"If you ladies would excuse us for a moment," I spat out through clenched teeth as I motioned for my so called friend to follow me. I watched as James reluctantly agreed to follow me back toward the safety of the front of the bar.

"What the fuck?" I hissed at him as soon as we were out of ear shot of those women.

"You wanted a night out remember?" James asked me in a high-pitched voice of irritation before turning to grin at another cougar who strolled by us with a smile that was pure invitation.

"You wanted to get over the troll?" he asked me as I rolled my eyes at him.

"You wanted to be back to normal. Well, fuck face, this is normal," James spat at me as he shoved me before turning back to grin at the women who were waiting on us to return to them.

"This is not normal," I hissed at him as another woman strolled by us with a leering smile that made my skin crawl.

"Fuck you, Edward," he growled in anger at me as I rolled my eyes at him.

"You bitched about having Alice and now you bitch because she's gone. Have you ever thought that maybe it was you who fucked up here and not her?" he asked me, putting a voice to the question that had kept me up late at night.

Had I fucked up? I wasn't sure. I didn't miss really miss her, yet the idea of her with another hurt. I couldn't explain it, and I did not want to. I just knew that I missed how things were when Alice and I were together; the predictability, the knowing what the weekend would bring, and the fights that would always be the end result of too much time together.

"I would give anything to have another chance with the girl who got away, and you know this," James growled as I stared at him in shock. This was the first time, completely sober, that he had ever made such a declaration about Emmet's sister.

"But you? You practically pushed your fucking girl to leave, so I don't want to hear it from you ever again." He finished with an unsteady breath before running a hand over his always perfect hair as he shook off the heavy that was our conversation.

"Go on home, Edward," James stated as he turned back toward the women whom were waiting on him to leave me alone once more.

I left the bar and the cougar fest that James had brought me to without a look back. I was left to roam the streets to find a cab, which was an easy find, but going home was not where I needed to be. I needed answers as to what to do, but unfortunately those answers would cost me my pride. I swallowed the bitterness in my mouth before telling the cabby the address and then sat back as I took the long ride into the burbs.

Emmett lived Carpentersville, same as Jasper and every other fucking fool who gave up his freedom for a permanent lay. They lived in the same neighborhood and spent their Friday nights at one of others houses since Rose and Angela had become close friends now that they had marriage and babies in common. It was a different life than mine, but they seemed happy somehow.

Sixty dollars and one awkward cab ride later, I was standing at Emmett's door. I knocked softly and then waited, praying like hell that it would be Angela who opened the door since the girl was too sweet to turn me away like Jasper's bitch would have.

"Edward, what are you doing here?" Angela asked with a surprised smile as she pulled open the door to greet me. Truly, out of all of us, Emmett was a lucky man. Angela was sweet and pretty. She was loyal friend and a fierce ally to have. She and I had always a good relationship unlike my nonexistent relationship with Rose.

"I don't know," I managed to sigh in frustration as she laughed at me before dragging me inside.

"Look who's here!" she yelled out over the sound of the TV, causing the three other people in the room to turn and look at me with surprise.

"You got a minute?" I asked Jasper and Emmett who were looking at me as if I was fucking crazy, and they were right. I had lost fucking mind over it all since I didn't know what to do for the first time ever.

Emmett stood up and motioned for us to follow him but not before apologizing to Ang who shooed us out to the kitchen with the promise that she and Rose would be fine.

We walked in silence out to Emmett's garage, which was our designated hang-out to avoid the women.

"What happened?" Jas asked as he opened the beat-to-shit fridge to pull out a bottle of beer for each of us.

"I'll tell you what happened," Emmett chimed in, cutting me off with a wicked grin as I waited for whatever fucking nonsense he had to say.

"He went out with James," he finished with a grin at Jasper before they both started laughing.

"What happened, E? Did some grandma offer to blow you?" Emmett cackled on as Jasper shook his head.

"Yeah, she did, and I gotta say it- your mom has a fantastic mouth," I responded with a smile as I watched Emmett's smile fade slowly.

"Spitters are quitters. You know what I mean?" I finished with a chuckle and wink before taking a gulp of beer just as Emmett roared to life with anger.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother!" he growled at me as he stepped closer as if he was about to beat my ass down, but Jasper stepped in to prevent the bloodshed.

"Jesus, calm the fuck down, man. He's just kidding," Jasper grunted as he shoved Emmett away from me while I laughed at his ridiculous response even though it had been a long standing joke between us all about doing his mom. Mrs. McCarty was fine, and he hated that we all thought that.

"You better hope to fuck that you are kidding," he growled at me as I sat down on the shitty lawn furniture that cluttered the space around us.

"What's going on?" Jasper asked with a sigh as he sat down while Emmett continued to give me the evil eye.

"Yeah, what's going on, and why are dressed like you came from a funeral?" Emmett asked me suspiciously as he sat down before me.

"Well, for starters, fuck you very much. I do not look like I came from a funeral," I groused as I pointed at Emmett who just gave me the finger in response.

"Alice. She dumped me for Alex Marcus," I stated calmly as they listened to my awkward statement with a serious look upon both of their faces. I knew this look would not last long, and they did not fail me.

Their laughter was loud and raucous. It filled the crowded garage and spilled over into the house, so much so that Ange opened the door to find out if everything was ok.

"Babe," Emmett gasped as he wiped at his tear filled eyes while I pushed him away from me.

"Alex Marcus," he gasped for air before losing it to laughter once more.

"The older guy in the office with the earring?" she asked him trying to make sense of her idiot husband's words.

"Alice," Emmett gasped while Jasper waved her on red faced from laughter.

"Alice left me for the dude with elephant balls. There. Are you fucking happy?" I yelled at Emmett who was struggling to breathe while Jasper was still doubled over, laughing at my misery.

"Oh, Edward," Ang stated with a sigh as if she wasn't surprised at all by hearing this fucked up tale. I waited for her to say something more, but instead, she closed the door, leaving me to the assholes that I had chosen as my best friends.

"You know what?" I yelled as I stood up, not able to endure their laughter for another moment.

"You two can go fuck yourself!" I yelled at them, but instead of the silence I wanted, it only added to their laughter followed by Jasper gasping out the word _elephant balls._ I turned and stormed back into the house to find Angela leaning on the counter with a coffee cup in hand as if she were waiting on me.

"You leaving?" she asked me with a sad smile that was almost worse than the assholes' laughter.

"Yeah."

"Edward, ignore them," she stated firmly as Rosalie walked in to join us with a scowl on her face. I looked at her and waited for her smart ass comment since I knew she always had one for me.

"What?" she demanded through gritted teeth.

"I'm waiting for your smart ass comment," I snapped at her and then braced myself for whatever cruel words she might say.

"I'm glad Alice is gone. She was cunt," Rosalie stated bluntly in a defiant tone with her chin raised up in challenge, but there was no fight in me. I was stunned but not angry.

"I don't know that she was a cunt, but she was very special," Angela soothed while Rose rolled her eyes in response, but that was just Ang's way. She was never one to come right out and say that she hated someone. She was too passive-aggressive to be that bold.

"Do you want her back?" Ang asked me, startling me with the question since the truth was I wasn't sure.

"I don't know," I mumbled as I looked away.

"I mean, she was ok with me, but…" I sputtered as I tried to put my feelings into words, but there was no way to describe the conflicting emotions I felt over the woman.

"If you want her back, give her what she wants," Rose grumbled as I shook my head no.

"I would, but I don't have the cash to take her out to fucking dinner, let alone to Europe."I laughed pathetically as Rose rolled her eyes at me once more.

"Just cash in that stupid bachelor fund you assholes created," she grumbled as I turned towards her in amazement.

"Holy fuck," I mumbled as a wave of relief washed over me.

"That's it!" I yelled excitedly before grabbing hold of the woman who had always been my enemy to scoop her up into an embrace that shocked the hell out of her.

"What the fuck, Edward?" Rose screamed in a scared voice as I swung her around happily while Angela laughed before telling us to tone it down since the babies were sleeping. That was fine since I was done. I had plans to make and schemes to hatch if I was going to get everything that I wanted.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for all her kindness words and corrections. MWAHH…**

**Thanks to everyone who has embraced this fic as I attempt to do something a little different than what I'm used to. I hope you all don't mind.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.-+

The Last Man Standing Jack Pot. I had forgotten all about it until Rose had spoke of, but since those words escaped her lips, it was all I could think about. It was a fucked up lottery we started back in college when Emmett and Angela had gotten serious. We all put up five thousand with the idea that the last single man would get the jackpot. It was a joke that I had all but forgotten since it was made ten years ago, but now as I thought about the money, I knew it was the answer to my problems.

"Thanks again, Ang," I said with a grin that I could not hide as Angela made the drive to back into the city to take me home.

"What's that smile for?" she asked me with a laugh as I shook my head while looking away from her.

"Nothing," I smiled in response as she shook her head at me before focusing back on the road.

"If you think that James is anywhere near ready to marry someone, you're crazier than I thought." She snorted and I joined in on her laughter. She was right. James was nowhere near ready to get married, but I had plan and my plans never failed.

"He may not have anyone he's seeing now, but there's someone he's wanted back forever, so yeah, I think this could happen," I replied with a sigh as I thought about James and his undying infatuation with Emmett's sister.

"Who?" she demanded with laugh since we both knew James. We both were well aware that the guy thought with his dick, so the idea of him wanting a girl beyond a casual fuck was comical at best, but she didn't know his weakness like I did.

"Bella McCarty," I replied with the know-it-all grin that I had mastered years ago. It was a skill that had come in handy in engineering college as well as work.

"Bella?" she screeched loudly before laughing as if I was a fucking fool, and in this case, I might I have been.

"Yeah, James is fucking in love with her- has been since your wedding," I defended as she continued to howl in laughter.

"Oh…Oh, ok," she snorted sarcastically as she turned back towards me with a wide grin. She didn't believe me and I couldn't blame her. James and love was not a common combination.

"You know what? I think this is a fantastic idea," she snorted with a laugh that burned me with her snarkiness since she had no idea about James or how he cared for the girl.

"As a matter of fact, let me help you find her," Ang mocked as she pulled over in front of my building. She pulled out paper and a pen while giggling to herself as she wrote.

"Here," she exclaimed as she handed me the piece of paper with a wide smile that seemed too happy to be helpful.

"This is her contact info as well as where she works," Angela laughed.

"But you have to promise me, no matter what, that you'll tell me how it goes," she chuckled darkly as she dangled the paper within my reach before I snatched it out of her hands.

"I won't have to tell you. Their wedding invitation will be all the notice you'll need," I stated with a grin as she laughed at me before I got out of the car with a quick kiss of thanks on her cheek.

"Call me when you get home, so I know you're ok," I instructed her as she rolled her eyes, but agreed to my demands all the same before leaving me with all the information I would need to find Bella.

The morning came quickly and I was ready for it since this was the morning I had been waiting for. My life was about to change and in the process I would be changing the lives of two others as well. What was best of all was that I had a plan, and it was so rare that I had a plan, that it left me feeling hyper in my need to get this started. It all seemed too easy, almost too easy. I would bring Bella back to James, and I would walk away with enough money to bring Alice back.

Thinking of Alice was enough to spur me into calling her even though I hadn't bothered since she had walked out of my apartment the night she left me. It was still early for phone calls, but I didn't care. She needed to know that I was about to make good, what she wanted. It was how we worked together. She would push, and I would pull. It was us, and I wanted that back for no other reason than it was easier to deal with the bullshit I knew verses attempting to date, or be single.

I grabbed my phone and pushed her number- she was always number five on my phone. I waited for a moment as the phone rang until I heard her voice.

"Edward," she snarled in anger.

"Elephant balls, huh?" I laughed into the phone.

"What the hell are you talking about?" she snapped at me while I heard her moving in the background.

"Alex Marcus," I explained without saying anything more.

"Really, Alice?" I taunted as I listened to her silence that screamed guilt.

"Alex is a good man," she defended as I laughed at her.

"He's a good man if you like to have to wait for the Viagra to kick in or don't mind carting his balls around in a wagon next to you when you go out?" I teased as I listened to her rambled response.

"Is it difficult for you when you go out that his balls have already called shot gun, so you have to sit in the back?" I continued on until she finally screamed at me, but I was expecting it. Hell, I wanted her anger since it was what I was used to.

"Fuck you, Edward!" she screamed at me while I laughed in response.

"Yeah, whatever, just know this isn't over. I plan on getting back so I would start packing for Europe if I were you since your dreams are about to come true," I grinned victoriously even though she couldn't see it.

"Whatever, Edward, you aren't going to do anything." She laughed mockingly as I rolled my eyes. I had nearly forgotten what a bitch she could be, and this conversation was a sobering reminder.

"Just wait and see," I responded right before the click of the phone alerted me that she was gone. It didn't fucking matter either.

I spent the rest of the afternoon planning, but all the plans in the world meant nothing if I couldn't get this girl to go along with me. So, just like anything else I had done in my life, I took it upon myself to research Bella McCarty. I started with the most obvious place.

I googled her.

I discovered Bella had a blog about her love affair with cooking that was chocked full of recipes and pictures of her success, as well as failures in the kitchen. There were more successes than failure though as I scrolled through picture after picture of different culinary creations she had made.

I found awards given by her employer, Cook County Hospital, where she worked as a nurse. She had been employee of the month random times and for other achievements that made no sense to me. There were random wedding announcements on her page where she had been an attendant with pictures of Bella in horrible bridesmaids' dresses with too bright of smiles. I was amazed that she looked kinda adorable in a drunken girl type of way that made me want to laugh, but more than that I had learned a lot about the girl I had forgotten in four years apart. I had discovered that Bella McCarty was well liked, and possibly even loved, by many before ever turning to the most obvious source Facebook.

I was surprised that she was on my friends list. I had forgotten that I had accepted her friendship years ago, so that simple acceptance when I was most likely drunk just made my life so much easier to facebook stalk her since I had no doubt that as the daughter of a cop she would have her settings at high security.

Once I was on her page, I looked at her pictures and was instantly mesmerized. Bella was not the girl I remembered if her pictures were accurate at all. She was still pretty with her dark eyes and sweet smile, but there was something more to her. I could see it when she smiled. It was almost bitter sweet in a way and left me wondering why she was like that.

I read her posts. She was funny with her quirky comments and the odd quotes she would post. She would _ooh_ and _awe_ over pictures of Emmett's son like the good Auntie Bella everyone had said she was, but none of those quotes or comments startled me as much as a hidden picture in her album titled a life time ago. In that album there were only a few pictures and they all were from Emmet's wedding. They all were pictures I had seen before. Emmett and Ang, me and Jasper along with James. It none of them were new except for one. It was a picture of me, clearly drunk by the asshole like grin I had on my face with my arm draped around a very young looking Bella's shoulder. It seemed out of place, yet just right as I looked at me with a girl I didn't know from five years ago.

I had no time to ponder the forgotten picture since it was time to go change this girl's destiny and she wouldn't even see it coming. Just thinking about it and what would happen made me smile while wondering what this Bella would think. Would she thank me for connecting her back with James since I knew he regretted coming back to the room they shared to find her gone? Had she looked for him, and if she had, why hadn't she contacted Emmett since he would have known how to get a hold of James?

I was lost in these thoughts as I sat in the shadow of Bella McCarty's apartment hallway waiting for her. I had been there waiting on the girl for two hours, and she still was a no show. As each minute passed, I felt my agitation growing until I was practically pacing the hallway in hopes of this girl materializing out of thin air until finally she did.

I watched Bella from the shadows I was half hidden in. She was small and hunched over in a protective stance with her keys firmly in her hand like the safety pup Chief McCarty would have trained her to be. Without thinking, I cross the space between us until I was directly behind her.

"I've been waiting for you," I whispered to the girl as I slipped directly behind her with a laugh, just happy to see the fucking girl after waiting for hours to speak to her, but before I could introduce myself or say another word, Bella spun around to face me. Her eyes were wild as they met mine, but it wasn't her eyes that caught me off guard as much as it was the burning mist that she had sprayed in my eyes at while garbling out a scream before kneeing me in junk with a grunt of that was pure fear.

A**N:  
Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for her hard work on shining up my fic, but be warned I have added it a bit so parts are unbeta'd… Those mistakes are mine.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The burn was unbearable. It crippled me fast than the knee to the balls the girl had delivered with too much nervous force, but what was worse than the fire that was eating me alive was the fact that I could not breathe. Ever breath I took was like breathing in a blue flame. It burned my lungs and made me choke from the intensity of the pain.

"What the fuck?" I could hear Bella say in what sounded like disbelief, but I couldn't tell since her words came to me from what seemed like the bottom of a cavern.

"Edward Cullen?" she asked in a high pitched tone as she shoved me on the ground so I was face up, not that it mattered since I couldn't see her. I couldn't see anything since my eyes were melting right out of my skull.

"Jesus," she muttered and then I heard her talking, but the words made no sense. It didn't matter anyway since I was dying. I was burning alive right before her. I felt cool water on my face as if she was attempting to put out the fire, but it was too much by then as I found myself gagging and vomiting on the floor next to where I was incapacitated. It was like spewing fire while I struggled to breathe through the pain.

I had no idea how much time had passed or what had occurred before other people arrived and soon I was being hoisted up on a bed and moved. I could still hear Bella's voice calling to me, telling me that it all would be ok. It was soothing in the world of chaos that I had been thrust into so I focused on her soft voice and promises that it would end soon as someone continuously poured something cold on to my eyes as I lay there gasping to breathe.

Minutes passed like hours as slowly the fire started to subside a little. I wasn't sure where I was at, but people continued to buzz around me, working me as I lay there, unmoving in my own silent agony.

"So, this was you huh?" I heard a man ask in a gruff tone that shocked me a little as I felt the small hand that was holding mine grasp mine tight.

"He snuck up from behind and whispered in my ear. I thought he was going to rape me or something," she defended in a whine to the man as I struggled to find the words that would not come to call her a fucking liar. I may have come up from behind, but I was no fucking rapist. I wouldn't have touched the girl, but I had no chance to speak before I heard the low chuckle of the man who was at my bedside.

"Atta girl," he praised her as I choked on his laughter finally finding my words as my vision came back albeit blurry.

"Atta girl?" I screeched in a voice that sounded raw even to my own ears as I struggled to move, yet never letting go of the hand in mine.

"There he is," another voice laughed as I tried to look around the room, yet everything was still fuzzy. I could see shapes and forms but not details.

"I can't see," I confessed as I listened to the men laugh while Bella remained oddly silent.

"Mr. Cullen, I am Dr. Marcus. Do you know where you are?" the man who identified himself asked as I looked around once more, noticing that the details were slowly coming into focus.

"No," I confessed as my distorted vision settled upon the blob next to me.

"You are in Cook County Hospital Emergency Room. You were brought here after being sprayed with pepper spray. Do you remember being sprayed?" he asked me. I felt his hand upon me and the bright lights as he looked at my face, pulling me by my chin to look back at him once more instead of the person at my side.

I did remember. Being sprayed with pepper spray would be something I had no doubt that I would never forget.

"Yes," I whispered, feeling somewhat stupid as he looked at me. I could see he was a big man with dark hair and too minty fresh of breath for being after two in the morning.

"Good," he murmured as he moved from one eye to the other.

"You'll be fine, but you might experience some discomfort with your eyes for the next day or so as well as the possibility of a shortness of breath since it seems to have caused a reaction with your asthma. I will prescribe some eye drops to help with the discomfort as well as some nebulizer medicine," he said in an absent-minded manner that made me feel like shit.

"Lauren, give him a breathing treatment before he leaves, but outside of that, he's good to go," Dr. Marcus said as I turned toward the blob at my side to discover the blob now had definition, and I could clearly see it was Bella. Her dark hair was still pulled back, and she was chewing on the finger nails of her free hand.

"I can do it," Bella volunteered as she looked at the doctor with a nervous look on her pretty face.

"No way, champ. You're off the clock," he laughed in such manner that even I could tell he was hitting on her without having to see the flirty look on the blur of his face.

"Bella, did you want to press charges against him?" the blur at the end of the bed asked in a gruff tone that made me grasp in surprise.

"No, dad. I think it was all a mistake," Bella half groaned as she shook her head.

"You hear that boy?" he asked as he grabbed my ankle and gave it a solid shake that caused me to jump.

"You're one lucky asshole," he grumbled as I laughed loud and hoarsely.

"Yeah, I'm one lucky fucker that can't see or breathe without feeling like I am being burned alive," I griped, silencing the man whom had always scared the piss out of me.

"You are a lucky fucker since if I had my way, you'd have a bullet hole instead of that bitch burn you're dealing with, but my baby girl thinks concealed weapons are dangerous," he taunted as I tried not to show the sick fear that washed over me with his words.

"Dad, stop it," Bella hissed before shooing him out of the room and closing the curtains behind her with an angry clanging of the metal rods that held them.

I watched the girl as she stood at the end of my bed. I couldn't quiet see her face properly, but I knew she was watching me. I could feel her eyes upon me as well as the burn from the spray on my skin. She moved closer until she was once more at my side.

"You ok?" she asked me in a soft voice of concern that felt like a warm blanket over me.

"I think so," I confessed to her as I studied the blur where her face should be, while wishing like hell that I could actually see her. Without warning, I felt her hand smack me upside the head, hard.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" she growled at me in anger as she continued to swat me as if we were in some bad chick fight.

"Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?" she demanded in a shrill voice as her slaps came harder and faster while I blindly tried to block them.

"I'm sorry," I managed to say in a strangled voice that hurt as I blocked her from hitting my chest once more. It was enough to stop her vicious attack for a moment.

"I just needed to see you," I gasped while taking advantage of her surprise.

"What for?" she asked me in a suspicious tone that made me want to laugh. Bella McCarty was bright. I had always known this about the girl. She was first in her class in college and way fucking smarter than her jack ass brother. I should have known that she would see right through me, yet somehow I was mildly impressed that she had.

"I have a favor to ask," I began with a deep breath before launching into what I hoped would be a wonderful love story that could be told at her wedding.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! **

**Thank you to Tracy for beta'ing this one especially after I tossed what I had originally wrote instead. 3**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Bella waited with me as I took the nebulizer treatment that Dr. Marcus ordered for me in hopes to ease the wheezing that the pepper spray had created.

"So, Felix said you were looking fine," the girl named Lauren teased Bella with a wide toothy grin that made me uncomfortable.

"Yeah, he always says that," Bella mumbled while giving her a look. I knew that look. It was one I would give my own friends when I needed them to shut the fuck up.

We waited together as I struggled to tell her what I needed to say, yet the words were hard to find. How do you tell someone that you found their long lost love? There was no way, and every time I tried someone interrupted us.

"Hey Bella, I heard you took this guy out," some asshole in scrubs asked as Bella pulled the back the curtains for us to leave.

"She did not," I lied causing Bella to shake her head in disbelief.

"She just stunned me a little," I continued on causing her to snort in laughter over my dismissal of an event that resulted in an ambulance trip to the hospital.

"Whatever dude," the guy said with a laugh as he left us alone to leave the ER in peace.

"You know, all you had to do was approach me like a normal person and you wouldn't be in this mess," she bitched at me as I grabbed her by the shoulders, letting her lead me like a fucking blind man out of the room. My face was still somewhat on fire, and I still wasn't sure if I would die at the hands of a small girl.

"You are crazy," I sputtered, still tasting the pepper spray in my mouth. It was a bitter chemical taste that burned my tongue.

"Keep saying it and I will spray you again," I heard her mutter in anger, causing me to squirm away from her before taking hold of her once more since without her guidance, I was fucking lost.

"Suck on this," she muttered before shoving something in my mouth to silence me once more. The bitter tang of lemon filled my mouth; it soothed the fire a bit, but the tang of it was almost over powering.

"It'll help with the pepper spray that you inhaled," she advised me in a clinical tone as I bit on the lemon harder at her suggestion that it would make it better. Anything was better than the burn that was incinerating me alive.

"Where did you get the lemon?' I asked her as we continued down the hallway to leave.

"I had Seth run to the cafeteria for it," she said with a shrug that caused me to stumble a bit as I walked with my arm around her as if we did this awkward walk all the time.

I waited with a mouth full of lemon while Bella pulled out her cell phone to call for a cab. If I had been a gentleman I would have insisted on making the call, but since I was the victim in this mess, I was in no mood to be a gentleman with this small, yet deadly, assassin. It was in the silence that followed her phone call, while we waited, I felt Bella turn towards me with a sigh.

"Let me see you," she asked softly as she brought her hand up to gently guide my face in the direction she wanted me.

"Do I look ok?" I asked her as I watched the blurry image of this girl look me over with a critical eye.

"No," she replied in a serious tone. "But I think you'll be ok."

After she announced that I would live, an awkward silence settled between us, and rightly so, since the last time I had seen this girl was four years ago when I was drunk out of my mind.

"So, what's this about?" she asked me in a no nonsense tone that reminded me of her brother as we waited in the empty lobby of the hospital.

"Have you always been so skeptical?" I asked her with a wince as the burn slowly started to return.

"I get you're crazy and that's ok, but skeptical seems out of character for you, Little Bell," I sighed as she snorted over my choice of using her nickname. It was a nickname that I had never used since I had always kept my distance from the girl. She was off limits as Emmett's sister, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"One, don't call me that-only Emmett can call me that. Two, the only crazy person here is the guy who slips out of the shadows to whisper in a girl's ear _I've been waiting for you _ like some creepy ass rapist," she attempted to correct me with her no bullshit response that startled and pleased me all at once.

"What do you want?" she demanded once more as I took the wet wipe that she offered for my eyes that were watering once again.

"Wipe your eyes with it. It will help. I promise," she demanded in a soft tone before taking another wipe to my other eye. The cooling effect was instant as she worked on one eye before taking the cloth to my other eye since my hand was shaking.

"I'm sorry I sprayed you, but if you can't tell me why you're here then you need to leave," she whispered to me in a soothing voice as she held the cloth to my eyes.

I leaned into her touch as she eased the burn on my face with her soft, cool caresses. She was surprisingly tender for a woman who had just pepper sprayed me before kneeing me in the junk.

"Bella, I need your help," I whispered to her slowly as if she was pulling the confession out of me with each gentle wipe of my eyes.

"What kind of help?" she asked me slowly, in a soft whisper that was almost seductive with the rasp of it.

"Help in the worst possible way," I confessed lamely, as she continued to wipe at my eyes and face. I listened to her soft sigh and the intake of her breath since I couldn't see her face. She sounded like she was willing to listen, and that's all I needed her to do. It would be easy from there.

"Open your eyes for me," she whispered soothingly, encouraging me to try to see her, and as if by magic, I suddenly could. She was still a little blurry, but I could see once more and that was all that mattered.

I looked down at the girl who I was wrapped around for support and was instantly taken by her. Bella McCarty wasn't just cute; she had grown into a beautiful woman-a beautiful woman who would mace you first and ask questions later. It was not one of the endearing qualities that I had always pictured her to have.

"Can you see me?" she asked in a worried tone as I looked at the girl who attempted to end my life and nodded.

"Good," she stated as she stepped away from me with an agitated sigh.

"Ok, Edward, let's hear it," she demanded from me, replacing the soft caring girl who had taken care of me with soft touches and sweet whispers with the hardnosed girl that had kneed me in junk.

"There's this guy," I sputtered, suddenly feeling stupid for being there and bothering her.

"He…um... he's been in love with you forever," I managed to say and then watched as her face bloomed a fuzzy shade of red.

"Who?" she asked in a nervous voice that surprised me since I never thought of the girl as being nervous about anything. The Bella I had vaguely known had always been one to be sure of whatever it was that she would decide to do.

"You remember, James, right?" I asked her slowly and then watched her eyes narrow as realization settled over her.

"James DuPuis?" she asked me in an incredulous tone that shocked me.

"You do remember him!" I exclaimed excitedly as she stared at me in horror.

"Of course I do. The asshole got me drunk at my brother's wedding reception, took my virginity and then left me in the hotel lobby passed out with a ten dollar bill pinned to my dress along with a note that it was for a cab so that I would not mistake it for him paying me for sex," she snorted in humorless laughter while I was left gaping in shock at the girl.

"The only good thing I can say about it all was that he was incredibly quick. I mean, we are talking seconds here, not minutes, and he had such a small dick that it didn't hurt at all," she continued on with a flash of anger in her laughter as I stared at her.

"So, yeah, a girl never forgets her first no matter how much we want to," she laughed as I remained silent, watching my plans dissolve right before my eyes.

"What about James?" she laughed in an angry manner that made me cringe and then waited for me to elaborate, but I had nothing to say since there would be no love connection between them and worse yet there would be no me winning the pot and no trips to Europe with Alice.

"Nothing," I sputtered as I stepped away from her feeling more defeated than I had when Alice broke up with me. There was something about having hope only to have it dashed that took the life out of me.

"What?" she demanded again and then looked at me with a look that made me want to confess to murder, so that's what I did.

I confessed to this girl whom I had never really known- everything from my failed relationship with Alice to how she dumped me for elephant balls. I told her about James and his sick obsession with her. I felt no shame in telling her about his elaborate sex story concerning her, followed up with the jack pot and how it all began.

"You see, if I had the winnings I could possibly make things right, you know what I mean?" I confessed as she watched me with dark eyes that made me feel exposed in a not so good manner.

"Do you love her?" she asked me bluntly without a bit of emotion in her voice. It was clear she wanted to know, and while I had been asked this before, this was really first time I had ever really thought about it.

"I don't know," I admitted weakly, hating that I felt weak about it just as badly as I hated the fact that I had even confessed to her.

Bella watched me with a blank face for what seemed like forever before sighing in what could have been defeat.

"I don't think…" she began with a sigh as if she regretted saying no.

"You owe me," I said flatly, pulling out all the stops.

"You owe me after trying to kill me tonight," I repeated firmly as I looked down at the girl and watched her blank expression flash into anger in the blink of an eye.

"I did not try to kill you!" she hissed at me in anger while trying to keep her voice down, as some other people had sat down close to the door next to us.

"You did, and because of it, you owe me. You owe me a favor. And I'm cashing it in, Bella." I stated with a firm nod, refusing to back down to this girl no matter how much of a douche bag it made me.

Bella watched me for a long moment with hard eyes as if she was sizing me up.

"So, let me get this right. You want me to fool some asshole in to marrying me. The same guy whom I'd rather allow myself to be fucked gently with a chainsaw before ever getting back into bed with him again all for a girl that you aren't even sure if you love. Does this sound right or even fucking reasonable to you?" she asked me in a growl, not caring that people were staring at us with her tirade.

"One, I love the eighties reference. You rarely hear anyone talk about being fucked gently with a chainsaw any more and two, yes," I teased with a wide grin that hurt my face while watching her. Her expression was hard with anger, but she was still too cute not to smile at even though that only added to it.

"Bella," I sighed softly as I felt the heavy weight of defeat on my shoulders as I looked at her with a stupid smile.

"How will know that whether or not I love her if I don't try?" I asked her in a soft voice, not giving a damn that I sounded like a lunatic over my reasoning for her help in this fucked up plan of mine.

I wasn't sure if it was my insanity or the fact that I sounded defeated over the issue, but Bella slowly seemed to soften before me as if my words had affected her. It was then that I went in for the kill.

"Besides you owe me," I reminded her with a grin that earned a sharp elbow to the rib that caused me to grunt in her ear as I leaned upon her small frame for support.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Thanks to Tracy for her patience and her red pen. All lingering mistakes are mine.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I had known Bella since she was ten and I was fourteen, but I didn't _really _know her. I knew her as Emmett's little sister; the same girl who used to spy on us when we brought girls back to his house. The same kid who told his dad that we had gotten stoned in his bed room at the age of sixteen when she was twelve. The same girl whom Emmett freaked out over when she came down stairs for prom in a dress that showed off her newly acquired tits and ass when we came home for a visit at the age of twenty one.

"What are you staring at?"She demanded from me in a hiss as we sat side by side in the back of the cab that was taking us to her apartment since that's where my car was.

"Nothing. I can't see a fucking thing," I reminded her as she scoffed at my blatant attempt at quilting her even though it was true. My contacts had long been discarded during the constant flushing of my eyes in order to make the pain stop, but I could still her even if I didn't admit it.

Bella had always been a cute kid with her dark hair and wide eyes, but it was almost shocking to see how pretty she had become.

"Stop staring at me," she hissed as she looked away from me and out towards the blackness that surrounded the taxi we were in. It didn't matter what she wanted since I continued to stare at her until we finally pulled up in front of her place. I quickly paid the cab driver before Bella had a chance to dig money out of her purse while asking him to wait for me since I needed to walk the girl to her door.

"You didn't have to do that," she grumbled as she ran a weary hand through her hair, pulling it free from the sloppy ponytail that she had pulled it back into.

"A gentleman never allows a lady to pay," I stated, reciting what had been ingrained into me by my father concerning the treatment of ladies.

Whatever," Bella mumbled with a yawn as she moved towards her apartment building door.

"Wait!" I called to her as she turned away from me. "We have so much to discuss and…" I began but she silenced me with a look that was dangerously dark.

"I'm tired," she whined, but I could see the threat in her eyes as she looked at me.

"But…" I began before she silenced me with a wave of her small hand.

"Tomorrow afternoon, Edward. Come over then and we can discuss this fucked up idea of yours," she stated in a firm voice that told me we were done.

"Now, come on," she stated as she pulled me by my arm into the building with an irritated huff.

"I'm too tired to drive you home so you can stay over on my couch if you want, but don't get any funny ideas," she half growled at me as I laughed at the idea of getting funny ideas over this girl. She was pretty, but not pretty enough for me to risk my life over since I knew how Emmett's temper was when it came to anyone messing with his baby sister.

"Shut up," Bella snapped at me, clearly offended by my laughter over the situation.

"Thanks for the offer, Bella, but I think I will just go home for tonight," I said as I motioned for her to keep walking.

"I can find my own way inside," she groused as I chuckled at her bitchy attitude as a flash back of a little girl with dark hair wild from sleep, who would be grumpy if she didn't get enough sleep flashed before my eyes.

"I trust you can, but I want to make sure you're safe - that's all," I stated simply as she stared at me for a moment before shrugging as if in defeat to allow me to walk her to her door. It was with a simple, yet awkward good night before the agreement to talk later as I left the girl at her door step safe and sound.

It was hours later, so much later that it felt like a lifetime, when I reappeared at her door step with a box of orange cremsicle popsicles in hand to appease the girl in order to talk to her, as well as retrieve my car.

"Hey Edward," Bella announced breathless, as she pulled open the door for me to enter. She looked uncomfortable with me being there, and while I kind of felt the same way, I was not about to let a little discomfort stop me from reaching my goal. People could say what they wanted about me, but once I set my mind to something, I didn't quit until I got what I wanted.

"These are for you," I said with a charming smile as I handed her the box of frozen treats that I had remembered her loving from the past.

"Uhm…Thanks," she mumbled as she took the box from hands with an uncertain smile as she looked at the box in a confused manner.

"I remember how much you loved these," I gloated as I wanted the girl to realize that I had remembered her.

"You do?" she questioned with an odd look as I bobbled my head up and down like a damn fool as she looked at me with hard eyes that reminded me of her asshole cop dad.

"That's funny because I never ate these things," she said as she looked at me with a scowl that surprised me.

"Yes, you did. When you were little you loved these fucking things," I laughed as I stood there watching the girl who stood her ground with a box of popsicles in her hand.

"No, I didn't. It was the girl that you were screwing around with who loved them, not me," she corrected with a gloating grin as she raised her chin in defiance towards me.

"I only remember you with them," I confessed, feeling a little confused over the memory of her in pigtails with a Popsicle in her mouth.

"She would buy them for me as a bribe to keep me away while you and Emmett screwed around with her and her slut friend," Bella said with a grin as I shook my head to clear the embarrassment that suddenly flared inside of me for a split second.

"Well, it's the thought that counts," I replied with a smile as she snorted in response before turning to put the box of freezer treats away.

"Listen, Edward, it's been years since we've seen each other," I heard her call out to me as I felt the sting of rejection coming on.

"It has, but I've always thought about you," I lied sweetly causing her to laugh at me from a distance before asking if I wanted anything to drink.

"I don't see how this can work," she confessed to me as she came back into the room with two cans of diet coke in her hands before handing me one.

"It's simple," I retorted as she motioned for me to sit down so we could talk. "All you have to do is get him to marry you." She had a dumb founded look on her face as I smiled at her. It slowly faded into a hard scowl as she stared at me with dark eyes that made me nervous.

"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" she asked with a chuckle as she played with her long hair before tossing it over her shoulder once more, exposing her skin as she sat there in a tank top and yoga pants that seemed to only enhance the curves of her body.

"I don't know- flash him your tits or something," I offered as my eyes settled on her breasts. They were larger than I remembered, but it had been years since I had seen her last, and even then, I would not have looked at her tits out of respect for Emmett.

"If you think that's all it takes to make someone marry you then you are dumber than you look," she chortled as I choked on my soda.

"Fuck you, I don't look dumb," I grumbled as she continued to laugh.

"Edward, have you ever been in love before?" she asked me with a somewhat serious look on her face. It would have been stern, except for the teasing smile she wore as she looked at me. It was that smile that showed the hint of the ten year old girl, all spunk and sass, like the girl I used to know.

"No. Have you?" I asked feeling genuinely curious about this woman who used to be the girl I knew.

"Once and trust me when I say it takes more than flashing a nice pair of tits," she laughed humorlessly as my eyes drifted to her chest that was proudly on display since on default since she had mentioned them before righting myself once more.

"Now, what exactly was it you wanted me to do again?" she asked me, pulling me out of imagining what her breasts would look like and back to the business a hand.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for all her corrections and kindness.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"So, let me get this straight," Bella said with an asshole smirk that set me off a little.

"You want me to make your friend marry me, so you can collect this fucked jackpot that you, my stupid brother and your jackass friends created to go to the guy who dodged marriage the longest?" she asked me with a wicked grin after listening to me explain what exactly it was that I was asking her to do.

"You want me to give up my first marriage so that you can collect the money to take some snotty cunt on a vacation that she saw on Wheel of Fortune and demanded to go on?" she continued on with an edge to her voice, but I wasn't sure if the harshness was anger or laughter that was she was biting back.

"When you say like that it sounds pretty fucked up," I said as I tried to admonish her, but my words did nothing to shame her, instead they had the opposite effect, making her laugh loud and far from lady-like.

"Oh, it is fucked up, Edward," she choked on her own laughter.

"Why me?" she demanded as she tried to slow her laughter into something not so bitchy as she looked at me with those cold calculating eyes of hers.

"I told you. James has been in love with you for years. Hell, he still talks about you as if your night together was magical or some shit," I sputtered nervously as she continued to look at me as if she was waiting for a confession to murder.

"It was magical, if you mean magical as in magically fucking horrible," she snickered before taking another drink from the can of diet coke in her hands. She swallowed slowly as she eyed me hard and harsh.

"Ok, I'll do it, but it will cost you," she said with a hoarse voice from drinking too fast.

"Cost me?" I demanded in a high pitched squeal of surprise.

"Did you think I would agree to marry that dickhole without any compensation outside of seeing some guy that I haven't spoken to in four years because I'll be honest with you, Edward. Your happiness is pretty fucking meaningless to me at this point," she laughed in a blunt manor that surprised me. This was not the same girl that had always done as I had asked with a smile. This was a grown woman who had a plan of her own, and somehow, my money was now a part of it.

"How much are we talking?" I asked as I scooted closer to the edge of the couch while making my drug deal with the girl who held all the fucking cards in her dainty little hands.

"How big is the pot?" she demanded with a quirked eyebrow that made me uncomfortable with how much at ease she was over the deal we were brokering here.

"Twenty thousand," I snapped back and then waited for a reaction, but she gave me none.

"Ten grand," she barked back as I groaned in response.

"You want half?" I cried out in shock as she laughed at me once more.

"Yes, I want half. You're asking me to marry someone for fuck's sake- someone I hate- and so I think I deserve three-forth of it, but I was being generous by only asking for a half," she insisted as she leaned closer to me as if she was daring me to deny that she was making the greater sacrifice here.

"You are fucking crazy," I muttered as I scrubbed my hands over my face in a nervous fashion as I watched everything that I had planned go up in smoke.

"I'm crazy?" she practically screamed at me with a loud laugh that made her sound as if she had lost her fucking mind.

"You waited in my hallway like a fucking creeper to ask me to marry your friend, w_ithout any compensation_ might I add, and then freaked the fuck out when I told you I would do it for pay," she yelled at me with her eyes flashing dangerously bright at me as she leaned closer to me while I flinched under her stare.

"I just thought…" I began to explain as she glared at me.

"Well, stop since it's not getting you anywhere," she growled at me before taking a deep breath to calm herself as I sat there adjusting my glasses as they slipped down my nose.

"Edward, I swear to god you are dumb, almost fatally dumb," she sighed as she rubbed her hands over her yoga pants nervously before turning to look at me with a weary look once more.

"No, I'm not," I defended myself as she rolled her eyes in response.

"Do you how much it costs to get a divorce? I mean, just a basic divorce?" she asked me with a know-it-all look that I wanted to wipe off her face.

"Bare minimum two grand and that's if there's no fighting," she sighed as she looked at me with an expectant look as if I was to see the point she was making.

"You are asking me to marry some asshole, give up about a year of my life and do it all for free, so you can take some cunt, who didn't love you enough to stick around, on a dream trip to Europe because that's your idea of proving her wrong," she stated in a firm tone as I sat there listening to the girl bitch to me.

As she continued on as I felt the twinge of guilt as I realized that I might be asking too much from her.

"To give up my life, my time, my first marriage, all for some guy that I wouldn't even count as my friend," she finished in a flat tone that held no anger, just blunt honesty.

"I know you and James were never really friends, but…" I began, but she cut me off.

"I was talking about you, asshole," she growled before rolling her eyes at me. It was that look, mixed with her words, which made me feel like the epic douche-bag that I was acting like.

"Listen, I said I would do it, but not for anything less than ten grand…and you pay for the divorce since that shouldn't come out of my compensation either," she stated with a firm nod as she stood up and then walked over to her door. I watched her open it to dismiss me from this fucked up business meeting with a curt nod, forcing me to stand up and leave the girl alone.

"Think about it and let me know, so we can go from there," she called to me as I stepped out into the hallway, only to have her apartment door close behind me.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for all her hard work.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Think about it.

That was her parting comments to me as she basically pushed me out of her house. Her words angered me since all I could think about was how she was fucking everything up, but more than that, I was focused on the fact that she was right.

I was being an insensitive asshole: I knew it. I was asking too much from a girl I didn't know. I was expecting a lot while offering little. I had high hopes that Bella would be happy to know that James still thought of her, not laugh it off like it was nothing. I was fucked, and knew it as I thought about the angry little badger that had maced me.

I spent the next few days trying to come to terms with the fact that I was fucked. I had no other plan, and in reality, it didn't matter. I hadn't missed Alice once; it was more the principle than anything, but it was that fucking principle that was making feel like a fucking loser.

I was lost in, thought of my failure when I heard her. It was Alice.

"So, how's he doing?" I heard her laugh followed by Jess's mocking tone.

"Edward?" she questioned with a laugh that hurt, but it one to be expected since I did nothing except irritate Jess every chance I got. It was a game we all liked to play here.

"Yeah, I worry about him," Alice said in a concerned tone that I knew was nothing more than a fucking lie.

"Edward seems ok," Jess continued on with a dismissal in her tone that did not surprise me.

"Now, tell me about Alex," Jess purred in a tone that made me want to gag since I knew where this conversation was headed, and it was nothing I wanted to hear. I slowly stood up and tried to make my exit without being noticed, but as luck would have it, I tripped over the chair only to fall into the cubical wall that separated me from the women.

"Oh, hey, ladies," I managed to say as I righted myself while the two women watched.

"Edward," Jess said with a teasing grin. There was no doubt that the bitch knew I had been listening to them, but Alice remained silent. She continued looking anywhere except at me.

"Alice was telling me all about her new boyfriend," Jess mocked as I stared at the girl who used to be mine, except she looked different somehow. Maybe it was the guilt in the air around her, maybe it was the simple fact that she wasn't mine.

"Yeah, good for her," I mumbled as brushed by them with a tight smile as I tried to make my escape, but was stopped by Alice.

"So," she said with a sharp tone that set me on edge.

"So?" I questioned her as I stood there, letting her block my path just like she always did.

"Alex is taking me to Europe," she announced in a haughty tone that made me grind my teeth to keep the insults from spilling out of my lips in a rapid fire manner.

"Good for you," I managed to say as I tried to side step her, but she stopped me by stepping directly in my path.

"Is that all you have to say?" she mocked as Jess watched us with a gleeful smile.

"I mean, what happened to the asshole Edward I knew who refused to let anyone beat him?" Alice taunted with a grin that needed to wipe off of her face.

"What happened to the man I knew who would win at whatever cost?" she ridiculed as she took a step closer so that she was close enough for me to smell the sweet smell of orchids that she always wore. I used to tease her that she wore it to cover the scent of death that seemed to stick to her after spending her days at the funeral home where she worked. She hated that joke because it was true. She did smell like death and embalming fluid; oddly enough, I had missed the putridly sweet smell.

"Fuck off, Alice," I breathed out while trying to hide my defeat as I walked around her, only to listen to her snicker while calling me a loser. Her laughter and name calling was like pouring gasoline on an open fire as I felt myself become engulfed in rage over the tiny woman who had fucked me over for some old dildo with cash.

I stormed down the hall, by-passing the elevator to run down the steps towards my car in the parking garage. I didn't stop until I felt the coolness of the evening air surround me, not that it mattered since as I approached my car, I saw them. I saw Alice and Alex linked arm and arm heading towards his car with matching grins on their ugly faces. It was as I watched her leave with him, I made up my mind and knew where I needed to go.

The drive was relatively short even though it took forever in the traffic that always occurred this time of night in the city. After forty five minutes, I was parked in her building's parking lot and getting out of the car before I could remind myself how what I was about to do was fucked up.

I walked the distance up the steps, and soon, I was standing in front of her door. I could hear music playing inside of her apartment as I stood there, unsure if I should turn around or not, but before I could, the door opened, and I came face to face with a smiling Bella who looked every bit as startled to see me as I was to be there once more.

"Edward?" she questioned just as her door swung open wider to reveal the dark haired doctor that had helped me the night she sprayed me.

"Mr. Cullen!" he practically yelled at me with a grin that was wide and friendly.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with a laugh as he leaned against the frame behind her. I watched as he draped an arm around her in a claiming manner that did nothing for my mood as I met the jackass's smirk with one of my own.

"I could ask you the same thing," I muttered as I looked from the man to Bella, who looked oddly embarrassed as she stood before me.

"Does your brother know that you have a man over?" I demanded from her in an accusatory tone that caused her guilty look fade into anger as her dark eyes met mine.

"My brother knows that I am a grown woman, you unfortunately, have forgotten that," she growled at me as the man looked from me to her with an odd look.

"Grown woman," I scoffed like the asshole I was being as I pushed my way inside of her apartment only to find the neat little apartment covered in candles and the small dining table set for two. I looked around the romantic setting and felt ill since this was all wrong. Bella was just a girl and this man, this doctor, this guy who leered at her like she was a damn piece of meat, was doing nothing but pissing me off.

"Are you on a date?" I demanded from her as she watched me slack jawed in shock as I turned back towards her with a look of determination.

"I mean, you should not be considering marrying my friend if you are _entertaining _others," I clarified as I watched the good doctor step away from Bella with a confused look while asking her what the hell was going on.

"It's nothing Felix, except the ramblings of a crazy man," she soothed as she pushed me out of her apartment with a hard shove before following up by grabbing my nipple hard to give it a vicious twist that made me yelp in surprise.

"Get out!" she demanded from me with a low growl as she continued to push out into the hallway away from Doctor Wonderful.

"Would you stop fucking hurting me," I cried as swatted her nimble hands away, but it didn't matter since Bella McCarty had the reflexes of a ninja, avoiding my hands to pinch and poke me as I yelped like a fucking girl in response.

"You're an asshole, Edward! A fucking asshole!" she hissed at me as she backed me against the wall with a look that would have killed the average man, but since I was far from average, I was immune to her rage.

"You have no right to barge into my life!" she growled at me, and while she was right, I could not stop myself. I could not walk away from a challenge and that's what had happened. Alice had tossed the gauntlet down, and I was not about let her walk away without proving her wrong, even if that was exactly what she wanted.

"You're right," I confessed, owning up to my mistake for coming over that night. I had no right to the girl at all, and how well she knew it.

"But I just can't…" I stammered before stopping all together and taking a deep breath.

"You know what, just forget it," I said with a sigh as I looked down at the brown-eyed girl that had gone from glaring at me with such heat that it was burning my skin to the look of utter confusion that made me want to laugh at her.

"You have a good night and tell doctor dickhead in there to be good to you," I sighed as I tried to smile for the girl, but it came out as more of a grimace before turning to leave her be. I had made it half down the hallway when I heard her call out.

"Fuck!" she cried out in frustration. It was loud and filled with an irritated anguish that made me stop cold in tracks.

"Edward," she called out to me in a weary voice that hinted at her frustration with me and the situation I had thrust her into.

"Just…just stay," she muttered with a defeated sigh as I turned to face the girl. It was only then that I noticed that she was beautiful. Her hair was down and wavy with soft curls, and her dress clung to the curves that I had forgotten that she had. She looked sexy and wanton with dark eyes and ruby lips that were drawn downward in a pout. It was a pout that I had placed on her pretty face.

"You sure?" I asked, giving her one last chance to change her mind, and I could see that she was considering it before shaking her head no.

"Stay…Join us for dinner. We have plenty," she stated in a stilted manner that hinted at her discomfort as she walked back towards her apartment door before turning back to me with a smile that was honest and warm even if it was tinged with irritation while she motioned for me to join them.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for her clean up job. Any lingering mistakes are mine since I played with it a bit before posting.**

**I am glad you all seem to be enjoying this Edward and Bella as much as what I am.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"So, Edward," Dr. Douche-bag began as I watched Bella set another place setting at her tiny dining room table. The whine of his voice pulled my attention away from the girl who was trying to be gracious, yet failing, as she scowled with each movement she made.

"How is it you know, Isabella?" he asked with a grin as he swirled the wine in his glass like an asshole while giving me that fucking know-it –all smile.

"I've known _Bella_ since she was a kid," I offered while correcting him as to what the fuck was her name with a blatant smart ass tone before walking away from him without another word to speak with the girl in question.

"You need some help?" I offered with a grin as she jerked her head up to look at me with a shocked look before shaking her head no.

"What are we doing here?" I asked her as she looked at me with a dark look.

"Well, I was on a date until some dickface showed up to wreck it," she said with a mocking sigh as I smiled at her. I moved closer to whisper in her ear so that Dr. Douche-bag would not hear me.

"You don't want to date that guy," I whispered to her as I stepped closer to the girl only to have her react by stepping back.

"Really?" she questioned with a smartass grin as if she found me to be amusing when I was only trying to be serious with this girl.

"Yes," I hissed back to her as she shook her head at me while biting her lip to cover up her laughter.

"Look at him, Bella," I continued on as I motioned towards the moron who was checking himself out in the windows. We watched him smile at his reflection as he ran a hand through his dark hair as if he was practicing that fucking plastic smile of his.

"Fucking ridiculous," I muttered as Bella laughed at me as if I was the one who was being ridiculous.

"No man with any self respect would act like this dickhole," I hissed to her just as she placed her hand upon my arm to silence me.

"Thanks for your concern, Edward, but I think I know what I want, and while Felix is not perfect, he does have something I want," she said with a sly smile as she poured two glasses of wine before handing me one.

"What do you mean he has something you want?" I questioned as she smiled at me with a damn grin that made me nervous.

"Don't tell me you have some fucking doctor fetish," I half moaned as I thought of Alice and her fucking uppity snob fetish of wanting a man with a professional title while she mocked me, chipping away at my PhD in Chemical Engineering.

"No, I don't care about that," she laughed just as Felix adjusted his dark hair for what could have been the twentieth time before flexing like the fucking moron he was.

"Then what it is?" I demanded from her in a low whisper as I looked at the girl who was just smiling at me like a damn fool.

"Look at him, Edward, and tell me what you see," she sighed before taking another drink of the wine that she had poured.

I looked at the man who was too fucking stupid to be real and could not see anything worthwhile. He looked like every other asshole that I had ever seen. "Yeah, I don't see it," I said as I continued to look at the man who stood there oblivious to my critical eye as he smiled at himself like the fucking tool he was.

"You aren't looking close enough," she snorted before pouring herself some more wine as she turned to walk towards Felix. I watched the sway of her hips as she approached him only to have him turn and pull her to him with his hand firmly on her ass while she giggled in response. It was disturbing and oddly hot to watch him touch her without a fucking care in the world while I was there witnessing it all.

"Dinner's done," Bella said before turning back towards me only be smacked on the ass in a playful manner that made me more than uncomfortable. I stood there and watched as the couple laughed together before crossing the space that separated us to sit-down to eat.

I stood there and watched as they sat down while I tried to come up with a nice way of saying that I needed the fuck out there, but it was too late.

"Sit down, Edward," Bella groaned as she sat down with her drink in hand.

"I think maybe…" I began but had no time to finish that thought as she turned to look at me with dark eyes that glared at me in a challenge.

"Well, too late for that," she snapped before motioning for me to sit down in such a manner that it reminded me of her father and his gruff attitude when it came to me or Jasper. I felt I had no choice but to sit down and just fucking endure the date that I had interrupted.

"So, Edward, tell me about yourself," Dr. Asshole began with a grin. "I mean, outside of lurking in hallways to scare poor unsuspecting women," he snorted as I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him.

"I'm a junior engineer over at Marcus," I replied with a tight smile as Bella poured herself more wine.

"Hey, do you always drink this much on a date?" I asked her, causing Bella to jump in surprise before turning to look at me with a twisted look of anger.

"No," she snapped at me. "But it's not every night some asshole friend of my brother shows up to cock block me with his stupidity and selfishness so I do have a reason to celebrate tonight," she said with a soft laugh, but I could feel the heat of her anger as she glared at me.

There was a long awkward pause before Dr. Fucking-Wonderful cleared his throat and began speaking once more.

"So you work at Marcus?" he asked me in a tight voice as I watched him lock eyes with Bella for a split second before turning back to me once more.

"Yeah, there and I work over at The Coven," I finished with a sigh as I took the bottle of wine out of Bella's hand to pour myself some.

"You were never good at sharing," I murmured to her, earning myself a soft snort of laughter as she reluctantly let go of the bottle.

"You still work there?" Bella laughed as I cringed while every insult about the comic book store that Alice had ever hurled at me played out in my mind.

"Yes, Aro is a good friend," I defended as she turned to look at me with a wide grin.

"Yes, he is. I just went to see him last week," she laughed before looking at me with a skeptical look. "He never mentioned that you still worked there."

"I don't get to spend as much time there as what I would like, but I still manage to help him out on the weekends," I shrugged off her question as she murmured in response.

"Yeah, I can see that. Aro is a hell of a guy," she agreed, causing me to meet her dark gaze with a smile of appreciation. It was rare that someone understood the brilliance that was Aro Volturi.

"You know, he finished his book," I gushed on like the proud asshole I was for my friend. Aro was a man who had faced hard times in order to chase his dreams while helping others pursue theirs, so much so that all I wanted for him was to succeed.

"No!" she gasped in surprise before laughing along me. I had almost forgotten about the lost summer when she was sixteen and staying with her dad which resulted in her needing a job to escape boredom. Aro had taken pity on the girl after Emmett vouched for her that she wasn't an asshat like him and hired her. I had worked a few evening shifts with her since Aro never wanted to leave the girl alone at night since his shop was downtown.

"Do you think he'll let me read it?" she questioned as he laughter died down a little.

"I think he'd love it but don't mention that I told you since it will hurt his feelings," I commented as I looked from the girl to Dr. Asshole who was watching our exchange with an interested look upon his dumb face.

The rest of the evening passed with discussions about people we used to know and places that we had been. Dr. Felix spent a lot of the time out of the loop, but it didn't matter since at the end of the night, he was sitting on her couch as she showed me to the door.

"Thanks for dinner," I commented as I looked over towards the man who was waiting for my departure with a sly look on his face.

"Yeah, no prob," Bella waved me off with a smile as she continued to motion me out the door, but instead of leaving, I pulled her out into the hallway with me to get away from the loser that was waiting for her sole attention, somewhat impatiently.

"What?" she asked me in a low whisper as we stood in the hallway with her door half closed behind her.

"I don't like him," I commented as she looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Dr. Fuckface. I don't like him," I whispered firmly as I pulled her away from the doorway and the possibility of asshole hearing me as I ranted about him.

"I don't care," she laughed as she pushed me away from her with a snicker that stunned me.

"You ought to care since I'm trying to do you a favor here. That asshole is sitting in there with a damn grin on his face as if he's expecting to get laid," I bitched to her as she just shook her head at me. It was only then that I realized what exactly I had interrupted and why the douche-bag was so irritated with my presence. He was there for a fucking hook-up, but what was worse was that Bella was going along with it.

Just thinking about her with him caused my stomach to turn over as I gawked at the girl before me.

"What would your brother say?" I demanded from her in a hoarse tone as she laughed at me once more.

"He would say that I was twenty-four, and he was married at twenty-four, so he probably wouldn't care at all," she said with a smile that was bright from the wine, yet hinted at a want that I tried not to associate with the pretty girl who was my best friend's little sister.

"What about James?" I sputtered as I tried not to think about the girl before me with the asshole who was waiting on her return, yet image after image of her with her red lips parted in soundless cry of pleasure mixed with her soft skin and dark hair played out in my mind like a bad porno.

"What about him? Or do you think I should invite him over to watch so he knows how to truly pleasure a woman?" she mocked as she turned away from me to return to her impatient guest.

"Good Night, Edward," she called after me as she stepped back into her apartment and shut the door before I could even respond to her nonsense.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Thanks to Tracy for her red pen, kind words and for just being a friend.**

**See y'all next weekend so be safe until then!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight

I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned until I finally gave up on ignoring the girl who was robbing me of my peace of mind. I grabbed my phone and dialed her number, but Bella being Bella, she refused to answer her damn phone. I kept calling her until she finally picked up.

"What's the hell is going on?" I demanded from her as she sputtered a sleepy hello to me.

"I have called you ten times," I continued on in a huff of irritation as the girl growled at me in anger.

"It's five in the fucking morning!" she yelled at me, cutting me off with her burst of anger. I knew what time it was, yet I didn't care. I needed to hear from her for nothing else but t to ease my over active mind.

"I know," I snorted in response.

"Time is money, Bella, and your time is my money," I laughed at her as she continued to cuss me in anger.

"What the fuck are you rambling about now?" she yelled at me as I continued to laugh at her. She was kind of adorable when she was pissed off, rambling her threats of bodily harm even though there was not a fucking thing she could do to me over the phone.

"You said that you would do it if I agreed to lose half of the pot. You said to go and think about it, well… I've thought about it and let's do it," I stated confidently as I listened to her stop rambling to listen to what I was saying.

"I was fucking joking, Edward," she sighed in an exaggerated manner that made me laugh at her.

"Well, too fucking bad for you," I snorted as I listened to her grumbling that was building into a full on rant once more.

"You agreed, Bella, and there are no take backs," I teased her only to listen to her scream in frustration.

"No take backs?" she screeched at me just like how I knew she would after my childish comment. It was so Bella like that it made me laugh out loud at her ridiculous ranting.

"That's right, you heard me. No take backs," I teased as I spoke over her ramblings, thoroughly enjoying her sleepy rage since it was an oddly sweet reminder of when I spent more time around the girl.

"What are you? Five?" she demanded from me as I stifled a laugh as she continued to bitch at me.

"Listen, I'll let you get back to Dr. Assface ," I sighed with a cringe as I thought about the dark haired man who hung off of her liked she owed him a piece of ass by just being there.

"Felix isn't here," she grumbled, causing me to laugh at her as I realized that she was alone without the booty call she had invited to dinner.

"Fuck you, Edward. He was called in to work," she grumbled with a yawn before hanging up on me while muttering curse words to me in a sleepy voice that made me smile.

It should have ended there between Bella and me, but I was never one to give up, even when I should have known better. It was that quality that caused me to be standing at the girl's door at six in the morning with a bag full of food in a lame-ass attempt to apologize for calling her.

I waited far from patiently as I listened to the girl shuffle around before unlocking the door to face me.

"Did you check the peephole before unlocking the door?" I demanded from her as she gawked at me.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as she fought off a yawn while staring at me before leaning out into the hall to see if I had brought anyone else with me.

"Seriously, Bella, the city can be dangerous, and I won't be able to sleep at night knowing that you were opening your door to any fool that knocked," I tsk'd as I pushed her aside and walked in with the bag in my hand.

"Clearly, I do," she mumbled as she stepped aside to allow me access in as I glared at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked me as she shut the door behind us while I walked into her overly neat kitchen to set the bag on top of the counter before turning to face her once more.

"I came to feed you breakfast," I said with a grin that she rolled her eyes to in response.

"And tell you that I was sorry for calling you this morning," I confessed as I gave my best apologetic look that always seemed to work on Alice.

"Yeah, about that…" she began with a yawn as I looked at the girl. She was dressed only a Black Hawks shirt that seemed to be two sizes too small since it clung to ever curves she had been blessed with.

"Is that what you wear to bed?" I demanded as I looked at her only to realize that the small t-shirt did nothing to cover the black cotton panties she was wearing. My words startled her enough to look down at her garb before looking back up at me with a shrug.

"Some times," she sighed as she waited for me to go on, but I had lost my train of thought as I followed the curve of her leg up over her hips before settling on the bounce of her tits as she stretched like a cat before me.

"Jesus," I muttered as I turned away from her, trying to avert my eyes before her tits became my down fall.

"Would you put some clothes on?" I demanded as she watched me with a curious look.

"Why?" she asked with a look that hinted at the smile that was playing at the corner of her lips.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" she asked as she turned around before me, letting me see that her ass was on display before turning back to me with a grin.

"Nothing is wrong with what you have on," I replied trying to down play my discomfort over her lack of clothing as the smile on her face grew a little.

"It's just that… that…" I stammered as she smiled at me, bright and toothy, as she moved once more causing my eyes to focus on the bounce of her tits that her teasing caused.

"What?" she demanded with a snicker that added to my embarrassment.

"I know what you're doing, and if you think that you can distract me with your tits, then you are wrong," I countered back as I tried to look away from her boobs, yet found it to be impossible.

"Yeah, whatever," she laughed as she suddenly stepped forward as if she was going to embrace me but instead ripped the bag out of my hands.

"What do we have here, Eddie," she teased as I cringed over the use of the one fucking nickname I could not stand. Edward was a horrible enough name without being called that.

"I brought you breakfast in effort to say I was sorry, but I'm really rethinking this act of kindness since you are acting like a tease," I grumbled to her causing her to stop searching through the bag to look back up at me with a flirty grin that sent a rush of heat over my skin.

"Oh, I'm not a tease, Edward. As a matter of fact, I never tease. I may make lewd promises of a good time but tease? Never," she finished with a sultry smile followed up with a wink that left me stunned and shockingly turned on by her boldness.

"Let's see what you have here," she sighed as she returned to rummaging through the bag before pulling the box of chocolate Pop Tarts out followed by the box of Lucky Charms cereal I had gotten for her.

"What is this?" she asked with a slight laugh as she looked at me with a confused look.

"Breakfast, baby," I retorted as she shook her head at me once more.

"Yeah, if I was ten," she snorted as she sat the bag down and looked at me with smile that was warm than mocking.

"You always liked those things," I whined out my excuse for what I presented as her breakfast while she looked at me with a half smile that made me flush red with nerves.

"It was sweet, Edward. It really was, but I think I have better idea," she said with a smile before asking me to give her a moment as she walked out of the room while leaving me to watch the sway of her hips as she went.

She was gone barely a minute when she emerged from what had to be her bedroom wearing yoga pants while pulling on a hoody.

"Let's go," she announced as she motioned for me to follow her as she opened the door and walked out before waiting for me so she could lock the door behind us.

I followed her down the hall and out on to the street. We walked side by side silently as cool morning filled the space between us. It would get hot later in the day since we were still in early September, but for the moment, it was nice, and we both seemed to be enjoying it as well as the silence that stretched between us.

"I have to ask you something," Bella asked with a seriousness that seemed out of place between us without looking at me as we walked together to where ever it was that she was leading me to.

"Ok," I mumbled as I gave her sideways glance while trying to gauge her mood. Bella was mystery to me. She always had been. She was the little girl who would crawl in beside me when Emmett had scared her after telling her ghost stories, yet thought nothing of telling us both what a couple of asshole we were to scare her.

"So this whole thing with Alice and the money is all about your wounded pride, right?" she asked me, stunning me with her bluntness over the subject.

"Not exactly," I lied, clumsily, causing her to turn and look at me with such an all knowing look that I looked away. I hated that this girl had the ability to look right through me to see me and what lies I tried to tell her.

"You lie," she retorted as she stopped abruptly in front of a small restaurant that I knew all too well from forced brunch dates with Alice and her lame-ass friends. Bella sighed before pushing me inside of its cramped quarters.

The place was packed, but I had little time to focus on that before some hearing some of the other patrons greet Bella with a friendly hello as if she came there all the time. Maybe she did since it was a rare fucking occasion for me to go with Alice on those hell dates. I followed her to a booth that was in the back, far away from the center of the damn room like where I was used to sitting and then slunk down in the seat across from her.

"Why are you agreeing to this?" I asked her since turn about was fair game, plus I was curious over the girl's motive now.

"I'm not," she stated firmly as she motioned the older woman over with a wave and grin.

"But you said…" I began before falling silent as the woman appeared with two cups and a carafe of coffee for us to drink with the promise of returning to take our order, but Bella stopped her.

"Do you know what you want?" she asked me as she looked up from the well worn menu that was spread out before her. I had no idea, but that wasn't new.

"Sure," I mumbled before rattling off my order of strawberry stuffed French toast and bacon before Bella ordered the same.

"They have the best stuffed French toast," she commented as I watched her pour herself a cup of coffee before filling the cup before me.

"Yeah, I know. Alice and I used to come here," I said before opening my mouth to demand to know what exactly caused her change of heart in the fucked up venture I was offering her.

"Speak of the devil," Bella snickered as she motioned behind me. I turned just enough to see Alice take a seat at a table near the door. She had Alex in tow along with her whore friends and whatever loser they happened to be screwing.

"So, what is it with her?" Bella asked as I turned away from Alice to face Bella and her damn question.

"Why not her?" I retorted causing her to roll her eyes at me.

"Look at her, Edward," she sighed as she looked back at the woman who hadn't realized that we were in the corner watching her now.

"She's fucking oompa loompa orange," Bella giggled as she brought her cup of coffee up to her lips to take a sip. Alice was fond of spray tan, and the russet glow of her skin would often out her over it since she had a tendency to get carried away with it.

"Oh Jesus, she spotted us," Bella laughed as I turned to find Alice approaching us with a nasty grin on her face.

"Edward," Alice cooed as she greeted me, yet all the while her eyes never left Bella.

"Funny seeing you here," she sighed as she leaned against the booth with a smile.

"Who do we have here?" she said as I tried to ignore her, but Bella just smiled bright and teasing.

"Bella McCarty," I said with a yawn as Alice swatted me while calling me rude as Bella watched our exchange with a curious look upon her face.

"Emmett's little sister?" she laughed in a cold bitchy tone that seemed to set Bella on edge as I watched her stiffen before me.

"Hey Alice," Bella said sweetly, too sweetly, as if she was trying to choke Alice on her words.

"It's so good to see you," she finished with a grin that hinted at her anger, but Alice ignored the girl as she scowled at me.

"You look like shit," Alice stated firmly as she looked at me with a critical eye while ignoring Bella completely.

"That's my fault, I'm afraid," Bella piped up with a grin as I looked at her with an uncertain look that Alice missed as she turned to gawk at the girl who sat across from me.

"I kept him up all night," she giggled in a flirty manner that made me uncomfortable and strangely hot as she took hold of my hand in hers from across the other side of the table. Her hand was soft and warm over mine for the space of a heart beat before she traced my fingers with hers in a teasing manner that felt too good to be wrong.

"I couldn't help myself over him, but I'm sure you remember what that was like," she laughed as Alice stared, in what could have been horror or possibly shock, over Bella's suggestive words.

"So, how was Kenosha?" Bella asked her with a grin that made me smile along with her, but Alice just stared at her in stunned disbelief.

"Kenosha?" she questioned in returned with a pinched look on her over down face as I gave Bella questioning look as well.

"Kenosha, Wisconsin," Bella grinned innocently, even though she was far from it, as I choked on the coffee that I had just taken a sip of.

Kenosha, Wisconsin was a pretty lame ass town like any other around us, except that it also had a nuclear power plant. I had once told Bella that everyone in the city glowed in the dark. It became an ongoing joke between us that she had suddenly reminded me of with a sly grin and nod towards our shared past.

"I have no idea what you are talking about it," Alice stated stiffly as she looked at Bella who was smiling too sweet to be kind at her, but she was a liar. She knew exactly what the hell Bella was talking about since everyone had their own jokes about Kenosha.

"So, you haven't been by the nuclear power plant? I guess I thought you had with that …_healthy_ glow you seem to have," she stated innocently as I barked out a laugh just as Alice began to ramble.

"You better get going, Alice dear, I think your dad is calling you," Bella urged with a sweet grin before motioning towards her table while Alex waved to us with a friendly smile on his dumb ass looking face.

"Fuck you, Bella!" Alice sneered in rage before turning to stomp off in anger back towards the table where her old man was waiting on her while we laughed at her retreating form.

"Seriously, Edward?" Bella questioned as she looked at me while snickering along with me.

"You want her back?" she questioned as we both watched Alice glare at us from across the room. She was beyond pissed, and I was impressed that Bella had brought out that side of her with little effort, but then again, Alice was always jealous type. She would swear no one wanted me and then freak out if someone did, so her reaction to Bella was not that surprising even though she had no idea that Bella was playing with her.

"It's not that I want her back," I corrected as Bella eyed me with a knowing look.

"It's just that you fucking need to right, huh?" she mocked while rolling her over my behavior.

"Fuck you, I am right, and she's wrong," I defended as Bella shook her head at me.

"You're an idiot," Bella sighed as she looked from me back to Alice, who was scowling at us even though Alex was trying his best to put a smile on her painted face while Bella continued to play with my fingers from across the table.

Bella gave me a small smile as her eyes met mine. She had a devious look about her that went straight to my cock as she licked her lips before leaning across the table towards me.

"Kiss me," she whispered with a grin as I stared at her. I had never noticed how full her lips were or how they were naturally rose colored.

"What?" I breathed out my question before being pulled closer to her with a surprisingly hard tug on my shirt. Before I could even think I found myself in the middle of a innocent kiss that was so sweet, it made me gasp in response, but it wasn't the shock of it that got me since I was coming to expect the unexpected from the girl who sat across from me. It was my own response to her sugary kiss that left me stunned as I found myself instantly almost painfully hard.

Bella broke off our kiss with a smile as she pushed me back on to my side of the booth just in time to watch Alice stomp towards the door with the old man hot on her heels. I could not focus on the hilarity of Alice's over-the top reaction since I was still too dazed from the kiss to even think beyond my own reaction.

"Hey, Alice," Bella yelled after her as I continued to struggle with the moment as well as my aching dick.

"Hook'em horns!" Bella yelled while making a hand sign made famous by the University of Texas fans for the Texas Longhorns. I watched her as she watched Alice yell at Alex until they both left in a huff of anger while I sat there like a fucking moron.

"What?" she questioned teasingly as she looked at me with a sparkle in her dark eyes that did nothing to help the awkward boner that I was now dealing with because of her.

"Her skin was that that god awful burnt orange color, like Texas uses, so it was fitting," she snickered as I watched her, unsure of what do next but knowing that I had to get out of there before the girl knew of my problem. I fumbled as I pulled my sweatshirt off before stuffing it on my lap like a damn fourteen year old boy trying to hide an unexpected boner in class. Without a word, I stood up yet remained half way hunched over as I tried to mask my hard cock with my wadded up sweatshirt.

"I gotta go," I mumbled as I tried to get away from the girl as smoothly as I could while holding my sweatshirt in place over my dick.

"Where are you going? Our food isn't even here?" she asked with a confused look as I fumbled to pull out my wallet to toss money on the table wildly before backing away from her slowly like a damn lunatic.

"It's ok. I wasn't that hungry, but you go ahead and eat," I sputtered as I glanced behind me towards my escape.

"But what about Alice and this fucked up plan of yours?" she questioned with a sad look as I made my way towards the door as Bella watched me.

"I'll call you later," I yelled to her in a bewildered sounding voice that didn't even sound like me as I turned to walk away as quickly as I could while being uncomfortably hard.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! A special thanks to Tracy, my dear friend and owner of the magic red pen. **

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I sat alone in the cafeteria with my microwave dinner, focusing on anything except the four hours left of work before me when Jasper sat down across from me.

"So, I heard from Carl in accounting that Alex got Alice a job in contracting," Jasper said with a conspiring grin as he sat down across from me.

I had heard about her new job from the bitch secretary, so there was no massive reaction to give Jasper since I had already lost my shit over it with Kate.

"Good for her," I mumbled as he shook his head at me as if he was disappointed in me.

"What?" I snapped at him as he watched me with a knowing look. I hated that fucking look.

"You're losing," he sighed as I rolled my eyes trying to down play his comment even though I knew he was right.

"You're losing this break up, man," he continued on with a sad shake of his head. I knew I was losing the break up since I was no closer to proving her wrong about anything than I was the day she told me to fuck off.

"You need to get her back just to fucking dump her," he said with an irritated sigh as if I didn't know what needed to be done.

"I know, but…" I trailed off as my mind wandered back to the brunette that I had been avoiding for over a week now.

"But what?" he rushed on as he looked at me as if his reputation or pride was on the line and not mine.

"But it's complicated," I finished with a sigh as the image of brown eyes flittered through my mind.

"What's so fucking complicated?" he asked with a growl as he eyed me for a moment.

"I thought you had it figured out with Emmett's kid sister," he commented as I shook my head no. I had nothing figured out with Bella. Nothing at all, except that she was complication. She was difficult and funny. She hated James and loved French toast. She laughed like a hyena and had lips that tasted like coffee and raspberry syrup. She was dangerous, and did not need danger. I needed a sure thing, which was something that she wasn't.

"Bella is not easy," I replied in a stilted voice just as Emmett sat down.

"What about Bella?" he asked as he eyed Jasper for a moment before looking at me with a hard glare.

"Nothing," Jasper replied with a grin before looking at me with a devious look that I knew would lead to nothing good.

"Nothing except, Edward here told me he had breakfast with her recently," Jasper offered up causing Emmett to turn and look at me with a hard look.

"It was a couple of weeks ago, and it was nothing. She was at the diner and so was I, so we sat together," I half lied to him as I waved him off with a flick of my wrists before watching his shoulders relax with my explanation.

"She never mentioned it to me, but that's cool. I mean, I know you two used to be friendly," he chuckled before looking towards Jasper with a grin.

"Man, Edward was a better big brother than me when it came to Bella," he laughed as I rolled my eyes at him and his lame explanation of my nonexistent relationship with his sister while trying to hide the guilt that was threatening to swallow me whole.

"He scared all the boys away from her, so I never needed to," he continued to laugh as I looked down at the shitty excuse I had for food since I could not look him in eye.

"He was always the one guy I could trust with her, unlike you, fucker, who always drooled over her," he teased Jasper menacingly as I looked away while Jasper explained his sick obsession with Bella's shapely ass.

"Sick fucker, right, Edward?" Emmett spat at him while turning towards me for reassurance. It was that damn reassurance that would be the death of me since Emmett had no idea about the twisted thoughts involving his sister that I had ever since she kissed me: wicked thoughts that involved her coffee flavored lips and the softness of her skin against mine. It was horrifying and fucking amazing all at once. It was also the main reason I had not called the girl like I had promised since there could not anything but trouble coming from being around her as tempting as being around her had become.

"Sick," I breathed out with a shaky laugh that Emmett had missed before I stood up, grabbed my food and left them to argue out Bella while I threw my lunch away. I had lost my appetite the moment Emmett had mentioned her name.

I was barely out the door when Jasper caught up with me.

"You know, if Bella is a no go, you should ask Lauren out," he offered to me as we walked back towards the elevator alone.

"Lauren?" I questioned, unsure of whom he was talking about.

"Lauren Mallory from customer accounts," he explained as I stared at him blankly since the name meant nothing to me.

"Blonde, flat-chested, tried to blow you at the Christmas party but barfed on you instead," he explained with a laugh as the memory of the last Christmas party filled my mind.

I had gone alone since Alice and I were fighting like always. Lauren was a blonde girl that had mixed flirting with me while drinking vodka and Red Bull all night. It was this bad combination that lead to us alone in the banquet hall with Lauren on her knees begging to suck my cock before projectile vomiting all over the crotch of my pants. It was fucking ridiculous and something that I had not lived down no matter how much time had passed between the party and now, but I wasn't the only one who suffered from embarrassment. Lauren was reduced a blubbering mess of apologies every time I saw her. It was horrible and so was the idea of approaching this girl.

"Why the fuck would I do that?" I countered back while fighting off the urge to gag as he laughed at me.

"Because she'd do anything for you, and she's James's type," he explained with an exaggerated sigh as if I was the moron here and not him.

"Yeah," I mumbled as I rolled my eyes over his words even though I knew it was true. Lauren would do anything for me. She had proven it with her misguided blow job.

"Just do it man," he said as we approached our desk to finish out our work day.

"And if nothing else, at least you'll get laid," he called out with a parting shot as I turned to give him one last glare before sitting down at my desk to finish the last part of my day.

The day passed slowly, and as it did, I listened to the chattering around me. The gossip was all about Alex and Alice. The job that Alex created for her, the trips they were planning, and everything else that was just another fucking reminder of how I was failing here. It was that failure that pushed me into picking up the phone to make the one phone call I told myself I would never make.

I listened it ring for a second before I was greeted with a nervous hello that made my stomach ache.

"Hey Lauren," I began with a forced smile that hurt as the girl on the other end squealed excitedly for me.

"Oh my god," I heard Lauren whisper in a rush to whomever was sitting by her.

"Hey, Edward," she breathed out as I closed my eyes in response to her excitedness over one damn phone call. It made me nervous about going any further with this girl if this was how she was going to act since the last thing I needed was some fatal attraction bullshit.

"If you're busy then I can call back," I offered with a cringe as I tried to end the call before it even started.

"No!" she screamed into the phone, deafening me with her shrill voice before attempting to calm down once more.

"I mean, no. It's cool. What did you need?" she asked me, trying to play it cool, but she failed miserably. I could hear the tremor in her voice as she spoke, and it only added to my intense regret of contacting her.

What did I need? I needed a willing victim, a sacrifice to offer up on the alter to James to get the money I needed to win the war, but I wasn't sure if this girl was the one to get the job done. Sure, she was pretty and easy, but she wasn't Bella and that's who James wanted.

"Hey, I heard about Alice," Lauren said in a fake sad tone that made my skin crawl a little.

"Yeah, "I mumbled awkwardly as she giggled softly while I shook my head.

"For the record, I don't think that you're an asshole like she's telling everyone." She went on to tell me as if I would find comfort in her word and not the fucking rage that was burning through my veins. Lauren may not be who I needed, but there was no doubt that she would do in a pinch.

"Lauren, what are you doing on Friday night?" I asked her with a slight chuckle as the girl stuttered a nervous giggle in response.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Special thanks to Tracy for her kind words and red pen for this fic. She's the greatest.**

**I will be posting teasers on facebook later for ch 14 &15 later.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Dinner out with Lauren was never part of my plans, yet there I sat with a fucking wooden smile painted on my face as the girl babbled on about her three cats.

"This one is Petey," she proclaimed like a proud momma; too bad no one ever told her that it was a fucking cat, not a child.

"He's…" I stammered on to try to find the right words that would offend her since a crying girl was the last the last thing I wanted to deal with, and Lauren was known to be a crier. I glanced around the room as I tried to think of the nicest could when I noticed her. She was sitting by the bar with a group of women laughing while some asshole guy made googly eyes at her.

Bella McCarty.

"If you'll excuse me for a moment," I sputtered as I stood up, stumbling over my feet to find out what the hell she was doing while Jess called out to me, but it didn't matter. I was hell bent on finding out what the hell the girl was doing out, not that it was any of my business.

"What the hell!" I half exclaimed in a breathless tone as I shoved the guy aside to face Bella properly.

"Hey man, I was speaking to the lady," the guy said in a tough guy tone that made me roll my eyes at him while Bella gawked at as her friends looked from me to her with a surprised looks upon their painted on faces.

"Yeah, dickface, I don't care," I growled back with an angry glare before shock took over as I looked at the girl. Bella was glaring at me with hard dark eyes, but it wasn't the look of amused hate on her face that stopped me cold in my tracks, it was how she looked. Bella had always been pretty, and the other night with Dr. Asshole, she was beautiful, but sitting before me she looked positively ravishing. Her eyes were dark with sultry make up, and her hair was down in soft curls that made her look innocent, yet alluring all at once. I barely had time to look at anything else before the guy shoved me hard, knocking me backwards into the bar followed up by a swift punch to the nose that left me stunned while bleeding profusely.

"What the fuck, Jacob?" Bella screeched as she handed me a handful of napkins for my nose before the bouncer grabbed me by the collar of my dress shirt and dragging me away from her. I was tossed outside before I could breathe a word while the other douche bag whined like the bitch he was about the possibility of the police being called over his temper tantrum.

"Bella, baby," I heard the guy call to her, announcing that Bella had followed us out.

"Get the fuck away from me," I heard her grumble as I tipped my head back in an attempt to stop the blood flow.

"Jesus, Edward," I could hear her irritated sigh right before I felt her warm hands touching my cheek, gently guiding my face down towards her.

"Don't tip your head back. It could make you sick," she sighed as she pulled my head down while a group of people engulfed us.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I heard her ask just as her friends started in.

"So, Bella, who's this?" I heard one ask with a teasing laugh as Bella rolled her eyes in response while avoiding my gaze.

"This is Bella's stalker," the tall blonde joked as Bella's hand pinched the bridge of my nose while she whispered her concern over whether he was hurting me or not.

"I prefer to go by the name of Edward," I corrected thickly as the metallic tang of blood in my mouth made me gag.

"Oh Jesus, he's going to puke," the blonde cackled as Bella shook her head while the other women laughed at me.

"Why don't you guys just go home," Bella sighed in an almost disappointed manner as she turned back to her friends without ever letting up on the pressure of my nose.

"Bella!" the one brunette whined as the freaky tall blonde one waved her off.

"We'll catch up with you guys in a bit. Just let me help her with the stalker here, and we'll be back," the blonde assured the other women just as the dude that I remembered from my night in the ER appeared announcing that drinks were on him. That proclamation was enough to make the women move excitedly, leaving me, Bella and the blonde alone on the sidewalk.

"What were you doing, Edward?" she demanded from me as she ignored her friend to eye me with a half-assed worried look that was mixed with anger.

"That guy was hitting on you," I stated with a half growl as I thought about the asshole who was leering at her as if she would give him the time of day.

"Yes. Yes, he was," she stated firmly as she gave me an expectant look that surprised me. It was clear the girl had no idea how the bar scene worked.

"Bella, you may not know this, but the only reason a guy hits you in a bar is because he thinks he might get laid," I stated in a condescending muffled tone that did nothing to hide the arrogance that I felt as I schooled her in what was real when it came to the dating scene.

"Yes, I know, Edward. I actually was counting on it," she purred back to me, forcing me to look at her as she smiled darkly at me. It was that sexy grin that set me off once more, reminding me of how she kissed me, and how fast I reacted to it.

"No, no, no," I stammered like a fucking moron while her friend giggled at me before walking away as if she was leaving Bella to deal with my madness.

"You are not that type of girl…" I began, but she cut me off with a sharp tone that startled me.

"But I am," she stated loudly and in a clear voice that stunned me silent.

"I am a girl who enjoys sex, and I refuse to pretend to be anything but that girl," she stated firmly as she gave me a challenging stare, daring me to say any different.

"You don't know me well enough to know _what _type of girl I am, let alone well enough to tell me who I need to be," she said in a stiff tone as she looked from me to her friend who had given us some space.

"I just know you, ok?" I defended myself as the girl continued to pinch my nose between her fingers.

"Edward, you think my favorite breakfast is Lucky Charms and chocolate Pop Tarts," she scoffed as I tried to push her away, so I could talk without her hand over my face.

"I'm not that ten year old girl any more who follows you around hanging off every word you say. I'm a grown woman. The same grown woman you asked to marry one of your friends if memory serves me," she stated as she looked into my eyes, willing me to see her, and maybe for an instant, I could see beyond the girl that she would forever be to me to look at the woman she had grown into.

"I know you are, but to me you'll always be my Bella," I confessed to her like the idiot I always was when it came to her. She had always had this knack of turning me into some soft hearted fool who sat with her in the dark when she was afraid and held her when she cried. I couldn't help it when it came to her.

My words seemed to soften her hard exterior a little as I watched a soft smile tease the corners of her lips for a moment.

"I understand, but try to remember that I'm not that little girl any more, ok?" she asked me as she looked into my eyes, hypnotizing me with her dark ones as I could not look away from the girl.

Slowly, she moved her hand away from my nose while pulling away the tissues to make sure that the bleeding had stopped, which it had.

"You're good as new," she pronounced happily just as I heard Lauren's voice calling to me, pulling me back from the depths of Bella's eyes with its brash abrupt tone.

"And you're date is waiting," she continued on as she took a step back from me to put some distance between us once more.

"Come on, Bee," the blonde yelled as she suddenly appeared at Bella's side to drag her away while leaving me to deal with Lauren.

I turned to face the woman I had left sitting there with her damn cat pictures with a tired sigh.

"You're coming with us, right?" Bella called out to me from over her shoulder as she turned back towards her friend without looking back at me, yet still giving me the chance to join their fun. It wasn't a hard decision to make as I left Lauren standing there with a casual shout of good night and a bullshit promise to call that I had no intention of keeping before chasing after the girl that was slowly taking over my world.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading! Thanks for all your kind words folks and for taking a chance on a story that has little to no angst in it **

**Thanks to Tracy for correcting my words and just for being my friend.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I awoke to the sound of voices; women's voices that took me by surprise, but not as much as when I realized one of the women was Bella.

"So, how could I tell him no?" she sighed as the other women laughed, low and throaty as if she was still half asleep.

"Easy. Tell him that it's his fucking problem to deal with so get the fuck out," the woman laughed as Bella groaned in response.

"Or you could use him," the other woman suggested as Bella snorted sarcastically. I knew that tone all too well since she was always giving me shit over something.

"No, I'm serious, Bee. What about Riley?" the woman questioned as I listened to them talk. They were close by. I could tell by how loud they were, yet I didn't open my eyes to see where in the hell I was since if I was with Bella there was no doubt that I was somewhat ok.

"What about Riley?" Bella laughed softy as I racked my brain for any information about this Riley guy that the other girl mentioned. I tried to recall conversations with Emmett where he had mentioned Bella, but for the life of me, I had nothing to go on. Riley could be anyone.

"This is your chance to show him that now's the time," the girl announced before slapping the table she sat by to emphasis whatever point she was trying to make.

"Riley was right. We need the time apart to make sure that what we are doing is right," Bella stated firmly, but even I could feel the bullshit in her statement, and I didn't even know the fucking guy.

"No, what Riley needs is a reminder that you will not wait forever for his pathetic ass, and this guy could do that for you. You know, light a fire under Riley's ass so to speak," the woman sighed in frustration while Bella remained silent.

"Yeah, but I don't want to rush into marriage either, somaybe he's right," Bella fretted quietly as if she suddenly cared that I was asleep, but it didn't matter since my eyes fluttered open at the mention of marriage.

"Oh, look who's awake!" the other girl exclaimed as my eyes met Bella's dark ones.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Bella teased as I gazed at her. Her face was scrubbed free of the dark make up she had been wearing last night, out at the bar, and her long hair was pulled up into a bun that sat on top of her head. Somehow she looked too young to be sitting there with a mug of what had to be coffee in her hand, yet somehow endearingly sophisticated.

"Or should I call you, Sir?" she asked me in a serious tone as I held her gaze with mine. She was a little blurry to look at without my glasses, but I could still see that she was mocking me with that nasty grin of hers.

"Sir?" I managed to croak out in a voice that sounded hoarse as if I had spent all night screaming.

"Yes," she laughed. "You declared yourself a Knight after the bartender at Flanagan's performed the knighting ceremony with a cocktail straw," Bella snorted as the other girl laughed along with us, drawing my attention to the blonde blur to my right.

"Here," Bella stated as she thrust a hand out that was holding my glasses. "I took these away from you last night after you tried to break them in two."

"What the fuck did I drink last night?" I mumbled as the first wave of nausea hit me just as everything came into focus once more, letting me see Bella and that damn grin of hers instead of just hearing it.

"The better question is what didn't you drink last night," the other girl snorted as Bella laughed in response.

"It's never wise to try to drink Seth under the table," Bella explained as I fought the urge throw up once more.

"Seth?" I questioned as she continued to grin.

"Yeah, Seth. You're bringing him home to meet your mom since you have decided to marry him to show your support of gay marriage," Bella continued with a straight face and a fist in the air in a clear act of defiance while the other girl snickered.

"Jesus," I mumbled as looked away from them both while trying to mask my embarrassment.

"It's cool. I mean, Seth agreed to your proposal since he thought you were cute," she continued on with a bright grin as I rolled my eyes at her.

"Wonderful," I murmured before lying back down upon the couch.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" she teased before turning to leave me alone with the blonde.

"And you are?" I asked her, not giving a fuck that it was kinda rude since clearly this girl had seen me at my worst.

"Tanya."

"But you can called her Pterodactyl. I mean, that was what you deemed was her new name last night," Bella called out to me from the kitchen with a laugh as her friend half growled before reappearing with a cup of coffee in her hand for me. I took it from her and immediately sat it down since the smell was only adding to the sick feeling I was fighting.

"Fuck you very much for that, asshole," Tanya cooed sweetly to me with a wicked grin.

"Come on, Pterodactyl, is it all that bad?" I deadpanned like the asshole I was determined to be and then watched the girl turn a pretty shade of pink with anger. I watched the girl slowly lose her mind as my smart ass comment hit its mark.

"Leave her alone, Edward," Bella warned with a slight laugh that made me turn to look at the girl once more. While she wore a bright smile on her pretty face, it was clear she meant business when she told me to stop.

"What the fuck ever," the other girl sighed as she stood, revealing that she was wearing a t-shirt and boxers much like the outfit that Bella had on.

"I'm going home so you and the amateur doctor are on your own," she said with a wicked grin that caused Bella to fall silent.

"Later, asshole," Tanya called to me and then turned towards Bella with a pointed look. "Call me after he leaves."

We both watched her leave, letting silence fall between us once more.

"She seems nice," I stated, breaking the silence with my insincere comment.

"She is," Bella agreed, bypassing my half assed compliment as she sat down across from me in an overstuffed green chair that had clearly seem better days.

"Listen, I'm sorry about last night," I offered lamely as the girl looked at me with big brown eyes as I attempted to apologize for every last bit of embarrassing behavior I would have displayed before her.

"I rarely go out drinking, and I don't know what got into me," I offered as an explanation, but that was lie. I kind of knew. I remembered the moment that I started drinking as if the vodka would cure my problems. It all centered on a guy who came into the bar with a sandy colored hair and a smirk that needed to knocked off his face, but beyond that, I couldn't really remember why.

"It's ok, Edward. It was fun, and I was glad to have you along," she said with a grin that only added to my embarrassment.

"I mean, you weren't all that bad," she said with that damn grin that told me there was so much more to what she was about to tell me.

"You did offer your services for a free breast exam while claiming to be an expert in all things that were titties," she claimed with a straight face as I gawked at her in shock.

"I did not!" I exclaimed as I felt the heat of embarrassment rush through me as I pieced together my foggy memory, trying to think of when I would have done that, but nothing came to mind.

"You did, but it was ok," she assured me as her eyes shined bright with that laughter.

"I will say you were more thorough than my doctor," she added as I practically choked on my words of denial just as the urge to barf became too much, forcing me to scramble off of the couch where I had slept to race to the bathroom to avoid barfing on her floor.

I had barely made it, leaving me with no time to close the door behind me before I began puking in her toilet. It was humiliating as I retched uncontrollably while Bella slipped in the tiny room behind me. I closed my eyes and focused my energy on dying on the spot as my body rejected everything that was remaining in my stomach from the hours before, but not before I felt a cool cloth being pressed against the back of my neck to comfort me.

Slowly my body calmed, giving me a chance to breathe as the retching stopped, and the sick feeling passed as the coolness of the cloth soothed me.

"So, touching my boobs was that bad, huh?" Bella teased as she kneeled down in front of me in the tiny space between us. She had a worried look on her face that pinched her features, making her look older than what she should as she wiped the cloth over my cheeks to cool and sooth me.

"No, that's not it…" I stammered as I shook my head before instantly regretting it as it brought on a fresh wave of nausea that I swallowed back just as I flooded with the memory of Bella struggling to open her apartment door while I was feeling her up from behind. The memory of her soft, ample tits in my hands while she elbowed me with a laugh, reminding me to keep my hands to myself as I ignored her, made me cringe while causing my dick to stir to life through my embarrassment.

"They were very nice," I assured her as I looked away from her as she laughed at me once more as if my embarrassment was entertaining. I had no doubt that it was fucking hilarious to her, but I hated it all the same. It was that sweet laugh that caused me to turn back towards her once more where I was met with an unguarded expression as she tried to soothe me once again with her words.

"It's ok," she assured me. "You were drunk," she offered up as if being drunk was a good enough excuse when I knew it wasn't. There was no excuse for behaving like that.

"No, it's not. I mean, you're Emmett's baby sister, and I promised him years ago that I would never… I mean, you're Baby Bella for fuck's sake," I started to say as she rolled her eyes at me over my explanation.

"Emmett will get over it and I'm far from a baby," she huffed as she stood up, leaving me on my knees before turning to walk away. It was hard not to notice the sway of her hips and the curve of her ass as she did, confirming what she had said- that Baby Bella had indeed grown up.

"Listen, I've been thinking about your offer," she called out to me as I struggled to stand up on shaky legs that were still off from the vodka I drank last night.

"Yeah?" I called out as I stumbled out of the tiny bathroom, dreading what she had to say since while part of me needed the money, the other part hated the idea of her with James.

"While I still think you're bat shit crazy, I am willing to be a part of the fuckery you have planned," she said with a snicker as if she was pleased with herself.

"You'll marry James?" I questioned in a surprised tone since I had figured that an impromptu marriage was now out of the question.

"No!" she practically shouted with a laugh as she shook her head at me before motioning for me to sit down on the couch once more.

"Fuck no, I'm not marrying that loser," she sighed as she grabbed her coffee mug once more to take a drink just as I reached for mine.

"But…" she trailed off with a smile that was somewhat devious, yet still sad as she watched me.

"I could use some help… _Your _help," she finished with an irritated sigh.

"What do you mean by help?" I questioned before taking a small slip of the dark brew jus to see if I could keep it down before drinking the whole mug.

"Well, I mean, you want cuntface back to prove a point and I have my own unresolved issue," she said in a shady manner. It was clear that she didn't want to tell me what the hell she was talking about.

"Just spill it, Bee," I groaned and then watched her stiffen for a moment as I casually called her by a nickname that her friends last night had called her.

"My boyfriend Riley and I have reached this impasse," she sighed as if she as resigned into telling me what she needed from me while she stood up to grab the pot of coffee to refill her mug.

"Whoa!" I gasped in surprise.

"What do you mean _boyfriend _?"

My throat seemed to tighten around the word as I looked at the girl whose cheeks suddenly flared red as if she was embarrassed by it.

"You know what I mean," she grumbled against the cup of coffee pressed to her lips.

"Don't look at me like that, Edward," she bitched while rolling her eyes.

"Just because you aren't a big enough boy to handle a real relationship doesn't mean others aren't," she griped as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that Bella had a boyfriend.

"Anyway, we used to live together…" she began, but I stopped her with my shocked babbling.

"What the fuck do you mean that you used to live together?" I demanded like a moron as she stared at me hard eyes that held a glimmer of annoyance mixed in with her anger.

"I mean, we used to live together as in shared a place, as split the rent, as in everything that a normal fucking person would think of when I say _we used to live together,_" she mocked as I gawked at her.

"How is it that I didn't know about this?" I demanded like the dildo I was acting like. I knew I had no hold on the girl. I knew that I hadn't even fucking talked to the girl in years up until recently, yet I felt the sick feeling of betrayal as I thought about some asshole that used to live with her.

"Oh, I don't know, Edward. I guess I never thought to call you to get your permission since we hadn't really spoken in_ five fucking years,"_ she mocked as I rolled my eyes at her.

"That's bullshit, Bella, and you know it," I countered back while she laughed.

"Bullshit?" she questioned with a loud laugh as I sputtered m defense.

"Hell yeah!" I countered. "We used to be friends, Bee- good friends, and now… now you have this life… this… this…whole fucking life that I know nothing about," I rambled on as she watched me with a dark look on her face.

"Edward, don't see what that matters," she began with a sigh. "I mean, you had your life going on that I knew nothing about so…" she trailed off as she looked away, but I saw the flash of guilt in her eyes.

"So, because I wasn't the best friend in the world to you that means that you stopped caring as well?" I asked her as I looked at her, waiting for some half assed answer of denial, but I should have known better. Bella was not one to half-ass anything.

"Yeah," she replied with a shrug, being bluntly honest just like I remembered her being.

"Why would I continue to hold on to something that was long forgotten by you?" she asked me while meeting my irritated gazed with such honesty in her eyes that it hurt to look at her.

"Anyway," she began again as I continued to sit there, stunned silent by her honesty.

"I have this idea that I think will work. It's way better than your lame ass idea of me marrying some asshole since this plan will work, but I need you to go along with it," she said as she looked me with confidence that normally would have been a turn on for me, but in that moment I was still too stunned by the bold truth that Bella had stopped caring about me years ago.

"You stopped caring about me?" I asked her, ignoring her question while demanding she answer mine.

"You are so self-centerd," she mumbled with a sigh as she raked a hand through her long hair that hung in tangles around her shoulders.

"Ok, Edward," she breathed out loud to me as she was bracing herself for this conversation.

"What did you think would happen?" she asked me in an annoyed tone as I stared at her, not bothering to hide my hurt.

"You stopped talking to me after that one summer that we worked together," she stated as if that explained everything, and in a way it did, but it wasn't enough.

"You were just a baby," I replied softly, not wanting to think about an entire summer that I had spent with the girl who was too cute for words and too young to touch.

"And that meant that we couldn't be friends?" she countered back. "I mean, I thought we were friends, but then you went and just disappeared. Never called. Never returned my emails. I think I finally got the hint when you changed your email address," she sighed in frustration while I remained silent thinking about the countless emails she had sent me, demanding to know what was wrong when what was wrong was so fucking clear to me. She was just a kid, and I wasn't. I was twenty and old enough to go to jail if we had kept on the path we were on at the time. There was no doubt in my mind that was where Charlie Swan would put me even if it was just so that Emmett wouldn't kill me for screwing around with his kid sister.

"I just got busy," I replied, half lying to her to avoid telling her why I couldn't return her calls or write her back.

"Yeah, well, so did I," she said firmly with a hard nod of her head.

"Time passed. I grew up. I lived a little, Edward and so did you," she said with a hard smile as she looked at me, daring me to deny it while I knowing I couldn't.

"Anyway, Riley and I were living together. We were engaged, but Riley got this idea in his head that we needed time apart to know that what we were about to do was right," she said with a scowl that I ignored since I was still hung up on the idea of her being engaged.

"I think it was because his mentor was getting a divorce after thirty years of marriage. I think he told him that a wise man doesn't get married until he's older, so that way he lives a little before settling down," Bella reasoned on as I tried to listen to her, but instead only focused on the image of Bella and some faceless guy that I didn't even know.

"So, he ended things. He told me that he wanted to know for sure that we were a sure thing, which would be ok if I was allowed to live as well, but I'm not," she grumbled on before taking another drink of coffee.

"He's all for him dating and screwing around with women, but then loses his mind when I try to go out with other guys," she explained as I swallowed another sip of the bitter coffee.

"That's where you come in," she stated firmly.

"I think, I mean, I _know_ if he thinks we're together, that he's been replaced, he'll come back and this fuckery of him needing to live a little will be over, and we can get on with our lives once more," she said in a calm tone as I stared at her, unsure of what to say in response as she sat before gripping her coffee mug to tight that I wondered if it would shatter in her hand.

"It will work on Alice as well since it's the jealousy card that she's trying to use on you to get her way," she finished as I shook my head at her.

"I don't think Alice would…" I began, but she silenced me.

"She is Edward. You may not see it, but I do, so just trust me on this one," Bella said stiffly as if the words were difficult to say while I thought about what she was implying. It would be just like Alice to fuck my boss just to piss me off. I had thought it before, but I had only seen it as her being a vindictive cunt, not pulling the jealousy card since I was far from jealous of her being with him. I was embarrassed since she had traded me for a richer guy who had the means to give her what she wanted while leaving me to feel like a fucking loser, but jealous that she was with him was not something that I felt.

"What makes you think plan will work?" I asked her as she drained her cup once more before reaching for the carafe that she had placed on the beat-up looking coffee table that sat in between us.

"Jealously is a wicked thing, Edward. Since we all want what we can't have," she said in a raspy tone as she looked at me dark, warm eyes that still held the glimmer of the girl I used to know.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading and for liking this story : )**

**Thanks to Tracy for beta'ing the hot mess that I write.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Jealousy.

I was consumed by it, and yet, I wasn't since I wasn't sure if it was true jealousy that had its tight grip upon me or if it was curiosity that was killing me. It was the thought of Bella, grown up and living with some guy that I could not wrap my head around. It kept me up at night and left me stunned as I thought about the sixteen-year old girl I had once known.

It was the burning need to know who she was and how it was that she was with that asshole that brought to me to this moment of sitting in a sub shop with Emmett over lunch.

"What are you going get?" Emmett asked as he focused on the menu board that loomed before us, listing sandwich after sandwich combination.

"I don't know," I mumbled before biting the bullet and just jumping into the one conversation that I had been planning on since having spoken to Bella.

"So, what's the deal with Bella?" I asked in a rushed manner, ignoring how he turned to stare at me with a skeptical look for a moment.

"What do you mean?" he responded in a low voice that hinted at the protectiveness he always displayed when it came to Bella. I had always respected him for his care and concern over his sister; now it was just one more obstacle I had to overcome to find out about the girl.

"She told me she had been engaged," I mentioned as casually as I could while trying not to choke on the words.

"She told you that?" he asked in disbelief with a sideways glance that suggested that he had a hard time believing me.

"Yeah. We...uh…we ran into each other at the bar last night," I offered as an explanation with a lazy grin, as if it was nothing, while reminding myself that it wasn't a total lie.

"Oh," he stated, buying my half assed lie with a smile that killed me.

"Yeah, she met this older guy Riley Biers or _Dr_. _Biers_ as he preferred to be called," Emmett snorted as he rolled his eyes as if the guys name said it all.

"Damn, dad hated him. He was an arrogant fuck, but you know Bella. She always like guys with huge fucking egos," he snorted as I laughed along with him while feeling the knot in my gut tighten over the idea of this guy and her.

"Anyway, he proposed and everything was good, or so I thought, but then Bella called and said it was off. Dad about threw a fucking a party to celebrate dodging _that_ bullet, but Bella… Man, Bella, was hurt, and you know how much I hate it when Bella gets hurt," Emmett sighed in a frustrated manner that put me on edge.

"Why do you want to know? I didn't think you and Bella were all that friendly any more, yet now I find out that you're hanging out with her again," he commented as he looked at me while the girl behind the counter waited impatiently for whatever the fuck Emmett planned on ordering.

"Yeah, she…uh…she said she wanted him back," I said in a rush, throwing the girl under the bus to avoid Emmett's calculating gaze. It was that same all knowing, death-ray gaze that had caused me to walk away from her almost ten years ago after he asked why Bella had been with me until two in the morning one night. I never wanted to lose my friend even if that meant that I lost a girl that seemed too interesting to lose. So, instead, I gave her up with the idea that she was kid, and she was. I walked away while knowing that while she was fun, she wasn't what I needed, so it was done. It was the easy thing to do, and after a while, I had forgotten all about her, her pig snort laughter, and her dark brown eyes.

The rest of lunch we talked about anything but Bella. It was as if Emmett was trying to stay as far away from that topic as well. He was good like that. Unlike Jasper, who fucking loved to ride my ass about anything he could.

"Oh, Ang wanted me to invite you over for dinner," he said as we walked back to the office together. I nodded in agreement since Ang would just harass me until I came over anyway.

"Bella will be there," Emmett offered up as if that was an incentive to come. When in reality Bella being there was the just the incentive I needed not to come to his dinner party from hell.

"Well, if it's a family thing then I could come over some other time," I offered as Emmett used his entry card to let us both in the back way.

"You're family, Edward, and you know it," he said with a chiding tone that grated on my nerves a little since I knew it as well, but he was refusing me my out like the asshole he was.

"Fine, whatever," I mumbled as he laughed at me.

"There's the spirit, Edward," he mocked as we entered the silence of the office to go back to work for the hours of our day.

I had barely sat back down when my phone chimed, announcing a text.

_It begins tonight._

Bella and her damn cryptic messages.

**What begins tonight?**

It was a long stretch of silence, and as each minute ticked by, I felt uneasy.

_Our plan._

Bella's master plan to get us both what we wanted, but I was still unsure about it. As much as I wanted to get Alice back just to dump her sorry ass to prove a point that I wasn't a loser, I also didn't want to help Bella on her quest to marry some asshole who clearly didn't want to marry her. Just thinking about it made me sick inside.

**I don't like the idea of helping you get your first divorce out of the way.**

She knew how I felt about going along with this plan and had always countered back with the same thing that she had just texted me with.

_Stop being such a pussy._

I hated that the girl knew me well enough to know that I detested being taunted. Her mocking words were almost enough to push me over the edge and give in, but I resisted until she pulled out the big guns.

_If you won't do it, then I am sure my old friend Jacob Black will be happy to play my pseudo boyfriend._

**I don't know him.**

_Sure you do. He's the guy who smashed your nose this past weekend._

**Fuck that guy.**

_I would have… if you would have minded your own business._

Her words were just enough to push me into meeting her, and she knew it. There was something about her just fucking around that didn't set well with me. Maybe it was because I couldn't think about her as anything beyond how she was with me.

**What the fuck ever, Bee. I'll see you at 7.**

As soon as I had typed the words, I could almost hear her pig snort laughter over how fast I caved to her demands.

The afternoon dragged on until it was finally time to leave work and move on to another more miserable experience that Bella had planned out for us, even though she hadn't told me anything about our night out.

"Hey man, don't forget!" Emmett called out to me as I tried to dodge him and Jasper as I stumbled my way out of the building nodding in agreement to some dinner that I had been invited to while trying to avoid Bella's brother. There was no way in hell he would agree to me helping his sister land her ex, so I decided it was better to avoid him.

I managed drive away and head straight to Bella's place in one last effort to talk her out of whatever fuckery she had planned for us. I parked my car and raced to her door step only to have her laugh at me as she pulled open the door.

"You're a little earlier than expected," she stated with a laugh as she greeted me with a warm smile that made me smile in return.

"Yeah, well, I thought it would be easier to talk you out of this bullshit if I came over now," I offered up as my explanation while she smiled a little brighter for me.

"So that means you are done with your quest to crush Alice like a fucking bug?" she asked in a tone that hinted at her disbelief over my sudden change of heart.

"No," I spat at her with a laugh as I shook my head over her silliness as she sighed in response.

"I just think that if this guy wanted to be with you he'd be with you. Know what I mean?" I snorted as she stared at me with hard eyes that flickered red hot with her anger that she tried to hide with a casual laugh.

"Yeah, well the same could be said about you and Alice," she retorted as I looked away from her so she could not see how her words hit me since there was no doubt the girl was right, but this wasn't about me being wrong; it was about her making a huge fucking mistake.

"Whatever, Bee," I mumbled as I stepped inside of her apartment that was becoming all too familiar to me now.

"Just admit that I'm right, Edward, and life will so much easier for you," she teased as I brushed by her with a shrug, refusing to acknowledge her.

"Fine, let's do things the hard way, shall we?" she teased as she motioned for me to sit down before shutting the door behind us.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading this story! I appreciate you and your kind words over this fic. Thanks to Tracy for her corrections!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Bella rushed me out of her apartment with an irritated sigh, only pausing to look at me with a disappointed look.

"What?" I demanded as we stood in the hallway of her apartment facing each other.

"You could have gone home and changed into something less work-like" she scowled as she motioned towards my clothes, causing me to look down at what I was wearing. I had on my dark dress pants, white button up shirt and a tie. It was what I had worn to work, and while it was somewhat rumpled from the long day, I still looked good.

"What's wrong with what I have on?" I demanded as she rolled her eyes at me once more like the moody teenager she once had been.

"You look too formal for a middle of the week movie date," she commented in such a tone that suggested that I was the dumbest fucker she had ever met.

"Some women love men in a shirt and tie," I retorted as she snorted in response. "Besides, I left work and came straight here so we could get some dinner before this fucked affair start, so I had no time to change."

"Whatever," she mumbled as she turned away from me to leave on our so called fucked up fake date.

After a small disagreement that ended in my favor, I was allowed to drive us, which wasn't all that big of a deal to some, but for those who ever dealt with Bella would immediately recognize it as a victory.

"So, where are we going, Bumblebee?" I asked her as I started the car and then waited for whatever fucked up girl-like directions she gave me, but she remained silent. Instead, she opted to stare at me as if I called a bad name instead of the nick name I had once graced her with.

"What?" I demanded with a sigh as I felt the tension of dealing with this girl slowly creeping up my spine.

"Don't call me that," she replied stiffly as I rolled my eyes at her and her dramatic bullshit melt down.

"Why not?" I laughed as she remained ridged in the front seat beside me.

"I've always called you that," I finished and she shook her head at me as if I was somehow wrong. But she knew I wasn't. I had called her that since as far back as I could remember. She never minded it before, so her sudden irritation over a stupid fucking pet name only proved how ridiculous she was.

"Yes, you called me that when we were friends, Edward," she said slowly as if she was talking to a child.

"We _are_ friends," I corrected her as she shook her head no at me, causing her dark hair to spill out of her pony tail in soft waves that framed her face.

"No, we _were _friends, but now….not so much," she shrugged as if her hurtful words were nothing, but they gutted me with its truthful simplicity.

"Well, you better figure out how to be my friend pretty damn fast if you want pretend to be together for the sake of this plan," I grumbled as she looked away from me, ignoring my hurt while focusing on the darkness that falling around us.

"Just drive," she bitched before turning away from me once more, and for once, I didn't argue with her.

I drove into the suburbs to the movie the theater that she insisted her so called boyfriend would be at. We had time to spare so we opted to eat dinner at some random family diner without speaking at all outside of what was needed to get through the meal.

It was during that silence that I felt my anger growing slowly. It was like an infection slowly festering, picking at my soul as I watched the girl who stared at any one, but me.

"You know…" I began and then paused until her dark eyes met mine.

"You keep acting like I'm the villain here, and that's getting fucking old," I growled at her and then watched her eyes spark fire in them over my comment.

"You were not a spurned lover, Bella. You were a little girl that had no business in my life at the time," I continued on in a rough tone, watching her eyes burn bright as her cheek flamed red in what could have been embarrassment, but I couldn't quite tell.

"I was a grown man, and while we had fun together that summer, you were nothing but a kid, so stop acting like I failed you… Or cheated on you… Or whatever other crazy scenario you have created in that convoluted mind of yours," I finished with a haughty tone that dared her to deny that she had made up some crazy shit where she was the victim in our supposed relationship.

"Listen up you self-centered asshole, I never created some made up romance between us," she growled matter-of-factly, with eyes that were almost golden with rage. They were beautiful and so was she with her eyes bright and her cheeks red from rage.

"I also have not acted like a jilted lover but instead like a jilted friend, and I'm sorry I expected more from you. I guess I thought since you were a so called fucking _grown man_ that you wouldn't behave like a high school boy embarrassed by the geeky girl that was his friend," she spat at me as I stared at her in surprise.

"You think I was _embarrassed _of you?" I laughed as her face burned red in anger. Her pretty face was screwed up in a bitter look that took me by surprise since I had never once been embarrassed by Bella. Emmett embarrassed me more than what she ever had.

"What other reason is there that you avoided me?' she demanded as I shook my head at her.

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe your dad being a cop had something to do with it? Maybe because he had threatened me to stay away from his daughter or face jail time? Maybe it was your step dad Phil who told me that if I ever brought you home again at two in the morning he would call in his _contacts_ and have me buried in the outfield of Wrigley? Maybe it was Emmett? Remember him? Yeah, he would have fucking killed me too of we had continued to hang out," I laughed like a lunatic as she had the decency to look embarrassed before looking away from.

"Phil's an idiot," she mumbled without looking at me, but I knew she got the point. She knew it was wrong, but she hadn't cared while I had.

"He may be an idiot, but he wasn't wrong," I stated softly, causing her to turn and look at me with those wide eyes and a soft, uncertain expression.

"We had no business hanging out together, and you know it," I continued on as she stared at me as if she was seeing me for the first time ever.

"I mean, right now, if you knew of a sixteen year old girl who hung out with a twenty year old guy, what would you think?" I asked her, without really caring to know the answer since I knew the answer already.

"You would think there was something going on."

"You would wonder what the fuck was wrong with the guy that he was hanging out with a little girl. Couldn't he find girls his own age? You would question them, no matter how innocent their relationship might be."Listen, Bella, I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings over it all. I never wanted to, but I couldn't see how hanging out with you would end well so I just…stopped," I stated, telling her the truth for what could have been the first time ever as to what happened with me after our summer together.

Bella stared at me for the space of a heart beat before nodding as if she understood me, but the dark look in her eyes made me doubt that.

"Well, it still was a dickhead move, Edward," she stated before flagging the waitress down for our ticket. It wasn't the response of understanding that I wanted, but with this girl, it was as close as I was going to get.

"Dickhead move or not, it had to be done," I commented as she rolled her eyes at me once more as if my act of sacrifice was nothing.

"Did you always have this martyr complex or is this something new that Alice and old age brought out in you?" she asked me in a mocking tone that shocked me, but I was slowly getting used to Bella shocking me.

"You have no idea…" I began to explain all the sacrifice that came with giving her up, but she stopped me with a flick of her wrist.

"The past is over Edward, and the only person at this table is having a hard time with it is you," she said with a slight chuckle.

"It doesn't matter why or…how we stopped we talking because it's done and over with," Bella stated firmly as she looked at me with dark eyes that dared me to suggest otherwise.

"We can both sit here and bitch over a past that is meaningless or we can seize the moment and change everything," she said with the conviction of a sideline coach pushing her players on to victory. It was fucking adorable in an odd way that could only be described as Bella-like.

"What do you say?" she asked me in an encouraging manner while flashing me a slight grin that looked more devious than cute. She waited with a grin on her face that made me want to smile, expecting me to respond to her lunatic call to arms, and while this was my chance to stop her, correct her, tell her that this idea was a dumb as the one I had, I didn't. Instead, I just laughed and agreed since I could not seem to tell the girl no, even when no was the best answer for the both of us.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading this story and for all the kind words. You all make me smile.**

**Thanks to Tracy for her red pen and her friendship in a world where friendship is a rare find.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The uneasy truce between Bella and I seemed to last longer than I had expected since after dinner there was a sense of peace between us that made our being together less stilted in its awkwardness. Maybe there was a chance we could regain the old friendship we once had.

"Are you sure he's going to be here?" I asked her as I parked the car and looked at her, questioning all of this girl's crazy planning.

"Why do you doubt me?" she muttered before taking a deep breath that suggested her patience was wearing thin.

"Because I think this idea is fucking ridiculous, that's why," I responded as she rolled her eyes at me.

"Yeah, and me marrying some guy that I haven't seen in five years is just brilliant," she mocked with a laugh as I opened my car door to leave.

"You shut up since it was a fucking great idea," I called back to her over the sound of her slamming the car door shut.

"Yeah, for you!" she laughed loudly as she slammed the car door shut while I pulled out a sweater that I had always kept in the car. It was old, beat to shit, and smelled kinda stale, but it would keep her warm. Bella may claim that I don't know her, but I did remember her well enough to know it did not matter how warm it was outside, once we got in she would be freezing.

"What'cha got there?" she asked as she motioned towards the dark gray sweater I griped in my hands. She wore a half-assed grin on her face as if she was pleased with herself for calling me out on my sweater.

"It's a sweater," I shot back snottily as she laughed at me. I fucking hated to be laughed at and she knew it.

"Who are you? Mr. Rogers?" she teased as I rolled my eyes at her reference to the kids show that had been on ages ago with the weird guy who always wore a sweater and changed his shoes.

"No, I'm Mr. Cullen and now will you shut the fuck up since we are about to embark on a failed mission to win your boyfriend back," I deadpanned as she snorted in laughter at me.

"Don't laugh. You don't even know if this guy will be here," I mocked as a crowd of people walked by us and on to the theater.

"Listen, he'll be here, and when we see him, I need you to act as if you actually like me and not like I repulse you," she advised as I chuckled at her in response.

"I mean it, Edward. You act like being around me makes you physically ill," she whined as I wrapped an arm around her shoulders to show her that she was wrong. My sudden movement seemed to shock her, causing Bella to stumble a little as I pulled her close.

"Is this better?" I mocked as she tripped over her feet while I dragged her closer to me.

"I mean I could carry you like one of those greasy muscle guys on the front of those romance books you used to read," I teased her as she pushed at me, but it wasn't enough to separate us. Instead, her shoving only caused me to hold her tighter so that neither one of us could walk right.

"Fuck you, Edward," she gasped in laughter as she struggled against me, but it was pointless since I had her pinned to my side, practically lifting her off the ground as I dragged her along towards the looming movie house.

It was during this awkward half walk, half drag that was filled with Bella's laughter that whatever difficulty that seemed to surround us melted away, and we were right back to where we were eight years ago.

"You know, you're a lot heavier than you used to be," I wheezed before Bella pinched my neck hard.

"I am not!" she cried out in indignation as I finally sat her down as the line formed for tickets before us, but not before swatting her ass in a playful manner that made her gasp in shock.

"What was that for?" she demanded with a scowl as I laughed at her.

"Because I know you like it," I teased as she elbowed me while ignoring the stares of the people around us.

"So, what are we doing here?" I asked as I looked around the crowd that milled around us.

"Well, tonight is the opener for the new Star Trek movie, and I know how badly he wanted to go, so I know he'll be here," she mumbled as she scanned the crowd, looking for some guy who was trying to move on without her.

"Star Trek?" I cackled liked the dick I was as I thought about some lame ass guy who not only dumped Bella, but on top of that was a trekkie.

"Yes, Star Trek," she grumbled as she stopped scanning the people around us to glare at me.

"Don't act like you are somehow cooler when I know you probably jizzed yourself over The Avenger movie," she mocked as I shook my head at her, refusing to admit to such behavior.

"I did not jizz myself," I mumbled as she laughed at me.

"Whatever, Edward. We all have our fetishes, so it's cool," she stated in a distracted tone as she looked around once more.

"Really?" I laughed as I tried to think of what the girl could be into besides the pararomance books she used to like to read.

"What's yours?" I asked her as I found myself looking at the crowd for a face that I did not know.

"Rough sex," she said before taking a hold of my hand to drag me closer to the ticket counter while I sputtered a response just as the teenage boys behind us stepped closer to look at my girl.

"Would you stop that," I hissed at her as she giggled in response.

"What the hell is your problem," she teased as I rolled my eyes at her.

"Oh, that's _right_," she teased as she gave me a sly look that made me nervous.

"I forgot you're a prude," she laughed as I gawked at her but had no time to respond before the girl was curled around me like a snake while slipping one hand in my back pocket.

"Bella?" I heard a male voice call out to her as she smiled at me in an adoring manner that made me want to laugh at her and smile in return.

"This is him so, for the love of god, at least act like you want to touch me," she hissed at me through clenched teeth and a fake smile before turning towards the man with a surprised look as I fumbled to hold her.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed in a surprised tone that was so fake that it hurt my ears.

"Riley! What are you doing here?" she asked the man who came to a stop before us allowing me to look at him just like I wanted to. Riley Biers was tall, about my height, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes that looked demonic because of how bright of blue they were. He was ok looking, but not spectacular by a long shot. He dressed nice but in such a manner that reminded of a man who didn't pick out the trendy outfit he was wearing since it seemed ill fitting for him somehow.

"Bella, you never told me you were still going to this. I mean, I know you're not a fan, so I guess I assumed that when you gave me our tickets… I mean, I just thought that you'd stay at home or something," he fumbled through his conversation while looking from the girl who stared at him in such an adoring manner. It was that damn adoration that was causing my blood pressure to rise as I stood there while Bella refused to introduce me.

"Why would I stay at home?" she asked him just another woman came to stand beside him. She was short and blonde with soft brown eyes that held a happy expression. She stepped closer to the guy, wordlessly telling us that she was with the asshole just by the matching Star Trek shirts they wore.

"Hey Bella," the girl announced with a smug tone that only added to my irritation as I felt Bella stiffen in my arms. I had no idea who the fuck this girl was, but it was clear that Bella knew her.

"Kate," Bella mumbled through clenched teeth as she glared at the girl while asshole scanned the room as if he was seeking out an escape from the uncomfortable situation that he had created with these two women.

I glanced down at Bella and could see she was struggling to hold it together as that asshole stood before her, oblivious to what he was doing to her.

"Bumblebee, aren't you going to introduce me?" I asked her in the smoothest tone I could as I watched Bella try to school the wounded look on her pretty face while I fought off the urge to punch this dick in the face for putting that hurt look there on my girl. My words seemed to shock Bella back to life as she turned to look at me with a surprised look that was strained in its efforts to hide the pain.

"Bumblebee?" the asshole questioned in a hard tone that made me smile. I knew that hard tone. It was a question for her about me.

I ignored his harsh tone as I thrust a hand out to greet him with my best shit-eating smile that I knew would piss him off as I pulled Bella a little tighter to me.

"Hello, I'm Edward Cullen. I'm Bella's lover, and you are?" I questioned with a grin as I listened to Bella gasp and then choke over my words.

"You ok, bumble?" I asked her as she continued to choke as I rubbed her back softly, urging her to breathe, while the man and his date stared at us as if we had stripped and were fucking in the main lobby of the theater.

"Don't swallow your tongue, you'll need it for later," I teased, but my suggestive words were meant more for him than her, not that it mattered since as I spoke Bella began to shake in my arms.

"I gotta go…" Riley mumbled before telling Bella he would call her as he turned to leave us with the girl who matched him trailing behind with a confused look on her face.

Bella continued to cling to me shaking but refusing to look at me.

"Is he gone?" she asked in a low raspy whisper that broke my heart since she sounded so hurt.

"Yeah," I managed to say as I looked up to make sure that the asshole that was still making his way towards the concession stand before taking deep breathe help face the girl.

Bella pulled away from me so I could see her face. It was red and her eyes were glassy with what could have been tears, I wasn't too sure, and I knew I did not want to know. I watched as she opened her mouth to speak whatever heart ache was tearing her up, but instead of tears and despair, she greeted me with a loud laugh that eased my stuttering heart.

"Your lover?" she gasped in between high pitched squeals of laughter that made me smile at her loud reaction while others stared at us as I continued to hold her next to me.

"You wish," she snorted as I watched the confidence creep back into her bright gaze as she smiled at me and for one split second as she looked at me that was exactly what I wished.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Thanks to Tracy for her kind words and corrections.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The movie theater was dark by the time we walked in, leaving us to fumble our way through the dark to find seats.

"Why are we still here?" I asked her in a low hiss as I stepped over a man to finally sit down in what appeared to the last two seats together.

"Because we've got him on the ropes, Edward. This is not the time to stop," she went on cryptically yet so excited that it was kinda cute.

"On the ropes," I snorted as the man next to me looked at us with a concerned look.

"Yes, thanks to your lovers comment he's freaking the fuck out," she giggled as she flashed me her iphone that had the main screen covered in text messages from the fucker with varying messages that went from how Kate was no one but another Trekkie to screaming at her about how could she be with someone else when she had him. It was comical, but more than that, it was nice to see her smile and know that I had helped place that smile on her face.

"He's a dick, Bumble, and you can do better," I commented before stuffing a handful of popcorn into my mouth while ignoring the man to my right who was watching us.

"Yeah, well, we all can," she replied with a smile that had a mocking ring to it. I knew what she was saying and how she felt about Alice, but this wasn't about me and Alice. I didn't want to marry her. I just wanted to right a wrong, but Bella, on the other hand, had an agenda that included forever. It was the thought of forever that made me sick.

"You shut up," I grumbled as she laughed excitedly for me before swiping a hand full of pop corn to eat.

"I gotta ask what you see in him," I asked her trying to hide my distaste for the asshole with curiosity and humor, but I wasn't sure if Bella saw through it or not.

"Not this," she groaned as she looked away from me and towards the large screen before us that was filled with dancing soda pops and cartoon popcorn characters.

"You asked me," I retorted, reminding her of our failed breakfast that ended in a kiss and awkward boner.

"Fine," she whined as I waited for her answer.

"He's smart, and…" she began as she trailed off into silence.

"That's it?" I screeched in laughter causing the man next to me to jump with surprise.

"He's smart?" I mocked as Bella rambled nonsense, but nothing changed what she said.

"Big fucking deal he's smart. A lot of people are smart, but that's not a good enough reason to marry someone," I laughed in a tense manner as she rolled her eyes at me.

"Now you sound like my dad," she tsk'd as I laughed at her.

"Yeah, well maybe he's right," I countered before realizing what I was agreeing to.

"Really?" she teased as I shook my head at her. "Since when did you and Charlie McCarty agree on anything?" she asked me as I smiled bright for her.

"When it comes to his hard-headed daughter, we agree upon a lot of things," I snickered to her as she laughed loudly only to be shushed by the people around us just as the movie began.

Bella's laughter lingered in her eyes as she looked at me before turning back towards the screen, but not before snuggling closer so that she could rest her head upon my shoulder while threading her arms through mine to hold me close. It was an innocent move, but one that took me back in time to when there were no dick face doctors vying for her attention or ex-girlfriends who needed a takedown. It was just her and me with our only problems being that she was too young, and I was way too responsible.

The movie had barely started when I felt her twitch before letting go of my arm to pull her cell phone out of her pocket with a grimace. It was shining bright and buzzing angrily like a pissed off bee.

I looked at the girl as she smiled bright before turning towards me with a shit eating grin that was kinda adorable.

"He's watching us," she whispered with a slight giggle of a pleased girl.

"And that's good?" I questioned as I looked around in the darkness to see if I could find the prick, but in the darkness, everyone looked the same.

"It's good. It's very good, but it's about to get better," she snorted as she pressed closer to me while moving the arm rest that separated us, so she could wrap her arm around me in the most awkward, yet natural manner possible.

"Kiss me," she whispered to me in a low whisper with a naughty glimmer in her eyes that was irresistible.

"I don't know," I managed to say in a voice that didn't sound like my own as I found myself focusing on her soft lips. They were full and rose colored. How I had I not noticed them before?

"Why not?" she pouted in mock disappointment as she pressed closer to me, letting me feel her warm body and nervous touch as she griped my tie tight in effort to pull me closer to her.

"Because… I mean, it's probably not a wise idea," I whispered to her and then watched her laugh softly at me.

"What does being wise have to do with us?" she asked me with a grin that made me believe just enough in the nonsense she whispering to me to lean closer to brush her lips against mine. They were soft and salty tasting from the popcorn we had shared. They were just enough to make me forget why I was kissing her as I licker her bottom lip before biting down on it just hard enough to earn a throaty moan.

"Jesus fucking Christ, do you two think you could stop fucking long enough for some of us to watch the damn movie!" the man next to us bellowed out causing us both to jump in surprise, effectively ending our kiss, while the theater erupted in laughter around us.

I pushed Bella away gently as I tried to put some much needed space between us, but it was space that Bella refused me. She held on to me, pulling me close so that her forehead was pressed against my chin while pinning my hand between her chest and mine. It was awkward and fucking fantastic all at once as I inadvertently held her boob in my hand as she pressed close.

Slowly, Bella shifted so that she was looking at me. Her face was washed white from the bright lights on the screen, making her look unearthly as she met my gaze with a heated one that did nothing for the slow burn that was incinerating me from the inside out.

"I'm sorry," I managed to breathe out to her, apologizing for everything from the kiss that I could still feel on my lips to her brother that would kick my ass if he knew that I had kissed her.

Bella remained silent for a long moment. She just watched me with heavy eyes and kiss swollen lips that vaguely made me proud to be the one who marked her, however minor that mark might be. I watched her, aching to kiss her, while fighting the urge with all the guilt I felt for wanting her when I shouldn't.

Slowly, Bella responded with a smile. It was a wicked grin that added to the fire inside that she had started with her far-from-innocent kisses.

"I'm not," she whisper to me with a snort of laughter before curling back around me, holding my arm with hers as she rested her head upon my shoulder once more as if nothing had happened between us.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! All your kind words make me smile. I love that some are impatient for the Bella and Edward to get down to business so to speak. Trust me when I say it will happen, but with this Edward I have decided to take on his freakish moral code with Bella from the book so it will take a little convincing from Bella to get this done, but rest assured it will happen.**

**A special thanks to Tracy for her red pen & friendship. It means the world to me.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The movie played on, but what was actually on the screen, I had no idea. I couldn't focus on it since instead all of my attention was on the girl who was curled around me. She had her legs stretched out on the bar in front of us while resting against my arm. I could feel her lolled her head upon my shoulder as if she hadn't a care in the world as she watched a movie that I had paid for. It was sweet and so fucking irritating since there was no peace for me. I was twisted into a nervous knot inside, feeling like a teenager on his first date while she just sat there like nothing had happened.

I wanted to shake her hard so that she would see what an epic fucking mistake this was, but more than that I just wanted to kiss her. I wanted to taste the salt and butter from the popcorn on her lips. I wanted to feel her soft and warm against me. I wanted to know the sounds she would make for me as I touched her. I wanted to know about this girl and that did nothing but piss me off.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked in a low whisper without ever taking her eyes off the screen before us. It was this lack of concern for what had occurred while I freaking the fuck out that only added to my irrational anger.

"Nothing," I muttered through gritted teeth as I tried to put some space between me and the witchy girl who held on to me like a damn pillow. I shifted in my seat, pulling at my arm until Bella finally noticed and turned to look at me with a surprised look. It was just enough to send my reeling with righteous anger over what she had viewed as nothing.

Without another word I pulled myself free and stood up, earning the scorn of other movie goers everywhere in that damn place.

"Sit the fuck down, Lurch!" some ass yelled at me as I tripped in the dark over the feet of other patrons while making my escape. I could hear Bella's low hiss, demanding to know where I was going, but I ignored her while focusing on making my way out of the crowded theater.

Once I was out in the lobby, I took a deep breath and waited on the pressure in my chest to ease, but it didn't; instead, it only increased as I thought about how I had left her alone sitting in the dark. It was a shitty thing to do and I knew it, but I needed the space.

I walked out by the concession stand, breathing in and out as I tried to clear my head that was still tangled around Bella and that damn kiss of hers.

"What the hell, Edward?" I heard a whine in an angry tone, announcing that Bella had followed me out.

"What's wrong with you?" she demanded from me in a harsh tone that still hinted at her concern. It was that mixed message that was enough to set my rage into full motion towards her.

"Me? What's wrong with me?" I babbled on as I turned to face her. She was staring at me with concerned look that was surprising since I wasn't expecting that, but honestly, I had no idea what I was expecting from the girl who never did what I expected.

"Yes, what's wrong with you?" she asked me as she stepped closer to me, taking away what little space we had between us as she pressed herself against me while reaching up to feel my face to see if I was feverish.

"You," I managed to say as she caressed my check in a soothing manner. It was a kind touch that had always been just so like her.

"Me?" she questioned as she slowly pulled away her hand, ending what comfort she was giving me while making me regret even speaking.

"You can't just…just kiss me," I sputtered stupidly as she stared at me with wide eyes of surprise.

"I mean, we shouldn't be doing that and…and it's…it's just rude," I lied as she continued to stare at me as if I was the one being out of line, but it was more than that since I could see the hurt in her eyes as

"Rude?" she questioned with a bite to her tone that hinted at her anger, but I felt it in her voice, as the surprised look on her pretty face transformed into a scowl.

"Yes, rude," I lied as she shook her head at me slowly as if she could see right through my lie, but there was no way she could have.

"You are absolutely ridiculous," she muttered as she looked away from me with a sigh. To anyone who did not know her would think that she was bored, but I could see the tremor in her hand that whispered of her rage.

"You know what?" she asked as she turned back towards me with a steely look in her dark eyes that surprised me. "I am tired of dealing with you like this, so why don't you take me home until you're off your man period and can behave like a normal person."

"Fine," I mumbled before pushing open the door that I was half leaning against in an effort to get away from the girl who was too close for my personal comfort.

We walked out into the darkness side by side yet not touching.

"You are such a big baby," I heard her mumble, and it was all I needed to lose my mind.

"No, I'm not, Bumble," I growled at her and then listened to her laugh as if I was being a dick.

"I'm the only sane one between the two of us," I continued on as she shook her head no before wrapping her arms around herself as if she was cold. As much as I wanted to be a dick to the girl and ignore the fact that the cold wind that whipped around us was causing her to shiver, I couldn't. Instead, I stepped in front her, stopping the girl mid-step so she ran into me while allowing me the chance to wrap my old sweater around her shoulders. It was a move that took her by surprise as she tripped over her feet, and her laughter stuttered for a second before returning to normal.

"Now, get in the car," I demanded as I pushed her towards my car while she continued to chuckle at me like the smart ass she could be.

"Jesus, Edward. It was a kiss. Just a damn kiss," she half yelled at me with a laugh that did nothing for my temper.

"It's not like I dropped to my knees and blew you or something," she laughed as I stared at her, hoping the horror that I kind of felt over the idea overrode the extreme want for her to actually do just that.

"But...but kisses are important to girls," I explained as she laughed loudly at me over that idea.

"Maybe to girls like you, Edward, but to me a kiss is a kiss," she shrugged with a wicked gleam in her eye as I shook my head over her insanity.

"I'll prove it," she said as she motioned towards the group of guys that were lingering close by, watching us as we bickered back and forth.

"Hey!" she yelled as she waved at them. "Yeah, you!" she yelled as the one guy who looked in his twenties looked around to see who Bella was actually speaking to before taking off towards the boy. I blocked her, refusing to let her leave the car as the guy stared at us while whispering to his friends.

"What that hell are you doing?" I demanded as I pinned her against the car with my body, not that she fought me off.

"I'm going to kiss that guy just to prove to you that a kiss is just that, Edward. Just a kiss," she said as she looked at me with dark eyes that held a dare in them that made me nervous and excited all at once.

"You are fucking insane," I muttered to her as I continued to hold her there even though she wasn't fighting me. Instead, I found her clinging to me as if she needed to be as close to me too. It was horrible and fantastic all at once as I tried to calm that itch to touch her.

"No," she said simply in a breathless tone as she looked at me with a grin that was sassy as if she knew exactly what she was doing to me and how much I love/hated it.

We continued to stand there in our awkward embrace that was supposed to be a standoff, a battle of the wills, but the truth was, the only battle there was within me. It was a fight since I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to taste her lips again and feel her fingers pulling my hair. I wanted it even though it was so fucking wrong, but somehow the wrongness of it all only made me want it even more.

"You drive me crazy," I confessed to her, but I didn't think she understood what I meant by it. It wasn't just her bull shit know it all attitude and her insistence that she was always right when we both knew she wasn't. It was just her being her that drove me nuts. It was her laughter and her smile. It was her kiss with its hint of sex mixed with a sweetness that shocked me. It was everything that was Bella that drove me insane and she didn't even realize it.

"What are you going to do about it?" she teased me with a grin, refusing to back down or move from my embrace as I had her pinned between the car and my body. She should have been uncomfortable by it, but the girl looked almost pleased to be in such a position.

Her question was a good one since I had no idea what I was going to do about it. The last thing I wanted was for some other guy to take my place of pissing off the guy she used to date. I had no idea what I was going to do with the girl, but I knew, without a doubt, what I wanted to do with her, and it was that drive that pushed me forwards. My hands fumbled as I skimmed the curves of her body until I was cupping her face in my hands.

I held her there for a moment, just looking at her and the pleased expression on her face that I had every intention of kissing that damn smug look right off her face. Without another thought or doubt, I crushed my lips to hers, silencing her while holding her face in my hands gently since as badly as I wanted to put the girl in her place so to be speak, I never wanted to hurt her.

Bella, who never backed down from a challenge, accepted my kiss and encouraged me by fisting her hand in my hair. It was painful and just so damn perfect that it made me weak in the knees. Without really thinking about anything except the taste of her lips and my greedy need for more. I pulled Bella against me so that I could open the car door while barely breaking our kiss. Once it was opened, I pushed her towards getting inside and then cringed as I waited for her refusal or questioning, but it never came. Bella eagerly got in and then pulled me in after her by my tie, choking me with her excitement.

"Hold on," I managed to say as I untangled myself from her while pulling my tie free from her grasp. Once she was safely inside, I was able to shut the door and breathe for a moment. It was that breath of fresh, cool night air that tried to bring me to my senses.

_This is wrong._

_ This is wrong._

_ This is wrong._

It was the warning siren that kept blaring in my head as I stumbled over the front of the car to get in on the driver's side. I looked at Bella through the glass of the window shield. She was giddy-happy and licking her lips as she watched me walk.

I had my speech all planned out as I opened the car door to face her once more.

_This is wrong._

_ No matter what you will always be my best friend's little sister._

_ There is code of conduct between friends, and you are off limits._

_ You are a sweet girl, but…_

I got in the car with all of my well thought out excuses on the tip of my tongue, but before I could even whisper them to her, I was pulled by my tie into a heated embrace while Bella scrambled to straddle my lap. It was just enough to drain me of any common sense, which I had always been somewhat famous for amongst my dipshit friends, as her lips met mine once more.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! As always I am honored that you do.**

**Thanks to Tracy for taking her time to beta this hot mess and for just being a friend. Xoxo to you Tracy.**

**Until next time,**

**Xoxox**

**Mamasutra**


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"Well, well, well," I heard the low snicker of a familiar voice that made me cringe as I stood before the microwave, heating up left-overs from a few days ago for lunch. Jasper was always a dick, and there was no doubt what he was about to say would piss me off. I braced myself for whatever insult that he was about to greet me with as he snickered evilly.

"I see that you took my advice," he began as he motioned towards me while I gawked at him in a confused manner since I had no idea what he was talking about.

"You finally broke down and did Catwoman," he cackled as I stared at him in horror over the idea of getting anywhere near Lauren again, but before I could tell him to stuff it up his ass he motioned towards my neck

"And holy cow, Batman, did she leave her mark on you!" he laughed as I shoved him away from me.

"Oh come on!" he bellowed with a laugh as I knocked him into the fridge hard.

"You're a dick," I mumbled as he laughed at me before reaching out to grab me by my collar.

"So what," he laughed as he pulled on my shirt before I shoved him away.

"The least you could have done is covered that shit up since no one wants see the remnants of you taking a night off to slum it with Lauren," he teased as I scrambled towards the mirror on the wall that the girls used to check their hair.

"At least with a mark like that, I know that she has some incredible suction skills, so kudos to you for that find," he giggled as I checked my reflection. Nothing seemed out of place. My hair was tamed into submission, and I had remembered to shave. I looked tired but more than presentable.

"You are so full of shit," I mumbled with an agitated sigh, and as I turned back towards him, I noticed the purple bruise on the side of my neck half hidden by my collar. It was small but damning proof that Bella had given me a hickey. It explained her giggles as I walked her back to her door with kiss rosy cheeked with kiss swollen lips.

"So did you have to bring your inhaler to get the job done?" he teased as I stared at the mark while thinking of the previous night spent with Bella. My mind trailed back to how she felt in my arms, and how sweet her tongue was wrapped around mine. I could still feel the heat of her body grinding against mine as we dry humped like a couple of high schoolers in the movie theater parking lot until security chased us out, but not before I was able to watch Bella in her glory arch above me whispering nonsense as she came just for me. My mind was flooded with memories of kissing her hard against her apartment door while whispering that it had to stop-we had to stop, while never once letting her go until I was forced to by Bella who finally whispered good night against my lips. It was disappointing and so like her to leave me wanting more.

"Whatever," I managed to sputter as the ding of the microwave alerted us that my lunch was ready to eat.

"Whatever what?" Emmet called as he entered the room with an easy going smile before shoving Jasper out of the way to get his lunch out of the freezer.

"Never mind," I bitched as I glared at Jasper, silently telling him to shut his fucking mouth.

"Hey, what's this about you going to the movies with Bella?" he asked me, causing me to stumble as I attempted to make my casual escape from the lunch room to eat lone at my desk. It was a simple question but not one I was ready to answer since I had no answer for him.

"Uhm yeah," I mumbled before clearing my throat to try to sound less guilty.

"That's cool, man," Emmett said with a grin that vaguely looked like his sister's. "I'm just glad that she's got a good friend like you to watch out for her."

His words were like a dagger to my heart.

"Yeah, what a good friend," Jasper commented in a dry tone as I refused to look in his direction.

"No, I mean it man. This year has just been… well, shit for her, and I know how close you two used to be. I guess what I'm getting at is thanks, man," Emmett said in a sincere voice that only added to the guilt trip that I was riding.

"Anyway, I gotta go. Ang wants me to call her, so…" he trailed off as he grabbed his heated up lunch from the microwave as I watched him while letting my own food grow cold.

Jasper waited for Emmett to be completely gone before clearing his throat in a dramatic fashion while moving to take the seat across from me.

"So, what the fuck was that about?" he asked me with a cocked eyebrow that made him look like a bigger asshole than what he usually was.

"I have no idea," I answered honestly since I had no idea about Bella's life or what had gone on with it over the last year outside of some asshole letting her go.

"Bella and I haven't really had a chance to talk about it," I finished and then listened to him snort in laughter.

"I bet," he laughed as he looked at me with a wicked gleam to his eyes."I mean, what time is there to talk when she's too busy sucking on your neck and whatever other body parts you could possibly talk her into."

His words had barely registered before I found myself standing over him. I had shoved him hard in his chair, causing the chair to tip with a loud bang as he fell along with it with a softer thud.

"What the fuck was that for?' he demanded as he scrambled to a sitting position while glaring at me. He didn't have to say it; I could see that his fall had hurt just by the fact that he was rubbing on the back of his head. There was a sick satisfaction in knowing that I had caused it.

"Don't talk about her like that ever again," I growled through clenched teeth as I stared down at him as I attempted to uncurl my fingers from the tight fists that had formed in place of my hands. I breathed through the urge to slug him in his fucking mouth just to silence him while we exchanged a heated stare.

"You need to calm the fuck down," Jasper grunted as he struggled to stand up to face me. He was right, but I wasn't able to feel anything but an irritated need to destroy him. It was ridiculous, but I was slowly becoming used to that feeling.

I turned stiffly and left him along with my untouched lunch. I needed out of there before I did something else that I might regret even though I felt no regret about knocking Jasper on his ass.

"Tell Alex I'm taking the rest of the day off as a sick day," I called out to him, not caring at all if he followed through on my demands or not. The only thing I cared about was finding some space to breathe since the air was sparse in room that I was stuck in.

I walked by my cubical, grabbing my jacket to leave, while Emmett watched me with a curious look on his face as he sat across from me with his cell phone pressed to his ear.

"You coming back?" he asked me as he pulled the phone away to call out to me so that he wasn't yelling into Angela's ear.

"No. Going home sick," I called out emotionlessly as he nodded as if he understood the frustration that was slowly eating me alive.

"I'll take care of it," he yelled to me as I continued to walk towards the elevator, not giving a damn if he did or not since I was just done with being there. I needed something else, even though what I needed was about as stupid as how I felt.

Once in the car, I drove without thinking until I found myself in the parking ramp of the hospital. I knew she was there. She had told me what her hours would be, and at the time, I rolled my eyes since I could not think of why I would need to know how to find her, but now I said my silent thank you for actually listening to the girl for a change.

I got out of the car and walked in, trying to avoid the obviously sick people as I approached the emergency room registration desk that was protected by bullet proof glass.

"Sir, you need to sign in," the woman called out to me through the thick glass as she motioned towards the paper that was on the counter next to her window.

"Is Bella McCarty working?" I asked the old woman, feeling defeated as I confessed that I needed to see the girl.

"Uhm…" She stammered for a moment as she looked at me with a critical gaze. She was judging me, trying to determine if I was some crazy asshole who had sick infatuation with Bella. The sad part was that she was probably right about that assumption.

"Hey Sonia, I'm heading out. Call Tanya if you need triage," I heard her call out before I actually saw her. There was a happy lilt in her tone that made me smile while easing the shitty feeling in my chest as I stood on the outside of the glass cage, waiting to see the girl like the anxious stalker she had once accused me of being.

I watched as Bella stepped into the glass booth. She was wearing baggy, blue scrub pants and a turquoise scrub top that had pink hearts all over it. Her dark hair was pulled up into a bun, and her face had the remnants of make-up on it making her look tired. I knew, without a doubt, it was my fault that she was worn out, and I couldn't bring myself to feel bad about it as the memory of her on top of me danced through my head.

"Uhm… Bella," the older woman stated with a firm tone of warning for the girl just as Bella's dark eyes met mine. They went wide with surprise before her loud laugh filled the space that separated us, warming me from the inside out.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Thanks to Tracy for all her hard work. Love ya girl!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"Where did you park?" I asked her as I walked by the girl, yet not touching her. Bella only paused a moment, letting me see her guilty look, before looking away as if it was nothing.

"Don't tell me you took the fucking El," I muttered to as we continued to walk.

"The last time I checked I was a grown ass woman who was free to do as she pleased," Bella shot back as with a dirty look as we walked down the crowded corridor together.

"You are, but…" I began as she shoved me so that I stumbled right before she slapped her hand over my mouth to silence me.

"No buts, Edward," she countered as she met my surprised look with a challenging one of her own.

"I can do what I want, when I want, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, right?" she demanded from me in a cool tone as she held my gaze, daring me to deny her ridiculous claim while knowing that I couldn't. It was enough to add to my frustration that she didn't seem to give a damn that we were earning ourselves stares from the others that passed us.

"Whatever," I mumbled against her hand as she continued to hold it in place as another group of people stared at us with an uncertain look. She waited, letting the vibrations against her skin stop before slowly removing her hand.

"I just don't think it's very safe, that's all. I mean, who gives a fuck if I worry about you," I grumbled as we began to walk once more only to stop as the meaning of my words filled the air between us.

"You worry about me?" Bella asked me with a teasing grin that horrified me for a split second before I recovered from my gaff with a cocky smile that I knew she would hate.

"Of course, I do. I mean, people saw us together last night and if you went missing I would be a person so suspicion," I mocked and then listened to her laughter. It was light and happy, warming from the inside while missing the mark with her.

"You're an idiot," she mumbled with a grin before slipping her arm through mine as we continued down the hall towards the exit where I had parked. It was a normal claiming move, showing people that her and I were together, yet it was also a reminder of days gone by when that's how we would walk together just about anywhere we went.

I remained silent, letting the buzz of the hospital around us fill the space between us. It was soothing as was her hand on my arm as we walked.

"Bella," I heard someone call out to her, causing her to slow her pace as she twisted beside me to see who called her name. I followed her line of sight to find the guy who upset her last night.

Riley.

I would know that dickface anywhere since it's not every day that Bella McCarty cried. I had witnessed her break her arm when she was ten and not a one tear was shed, yet this guy seemed to have the ability to bring her to her knees.

"Riley," she replied in a tone that was soft, yet I could hear in the ice in it. It was a beautiful sound that made me smile since I knew if she was pissed then she would be ok. We stopped and stood there before the man who looked disheveled in his turquoise colored scrubs. His blonde hair stood on end and he had purple bags under his eyes that hinted at a sleepless night, not that I gave a fuck about him.

"I...uh…I saw you last night," he mumbled while ignoring me, as if I wasn't standing there with his girl wrapped around me.

"Yeah, I saw you too," I listened to Bella snap in anger. It was a tone I was used to from her, but clearly he was not judging from the hurt look on his stupid looking face.

"How was your date?" she demanded without missing a beat as I felt her hand tighten on my arm.

"Bella, it wasn't a date….And I'm not doing this to punish you," he sputtered as the guy looked from Bee to me with an uncertain look on his face.

"We needed the time apart," he stressed as I found myself pulling her closer to me as if I could somehow shield her from his stupidity.

"But that doesn't mean you have to go slumming it with every fucking pretty face you see," he half spat n disgust as he eyed me with an angry glare that surprised me.

In the past I would have been pissed at the suggestion that somehow the girl was slumming it with me, but the man spoke the truth. She deserved more than me, but more than that it was the ridiculousness of his comments that made me lose it.

"You think I'm pretty?" I asked him, catching Bella off guard with my smart ass question directed at the asshole who refused acknowledge me directly. It was enough to take the tense look off of Bella's face and replace it with wide eyes of surprise followed by a loud howl of laughter. It was exactly what I needed to hear from her to know that she was ok with all of this.

"Come on, Bee," I said as I took hold of her hand in mine before tugging on it to follow me.

"I want to get out of here," I continued on, ignoring the man who was now gawking at me with what appeared to be shock. Bella stumbled for a split second before turning to leave along with me. The grin on her face told me that she was fine with our escape.

A**N:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry this isn't beta'd I had one chapter waiting and then opted to go with this one instead.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

We sat in silence, letting the sounds of her quiet apartment building filter in around us as I stared at Bella. She looked tired and kinda pissed off as she held my gaze with a confidence that unnerved me.

"So…" she began after another lull in the conversation that only she was attempting to keep up with. I had long since given up on talking any sense to her after our encounter with Mr.-Fucking-Wonderful at the hospital. I had nothing to say after hearing all about how he was the most amazing person who had ever graced the damn planet.

"This has been fun, Edward, but I'm tired so you should go now," she stated as she stood up and walked towards her door to dismiss like some fucking idiot that she had mistakenly brought home out of pity. It was rude and did nothing for my attitude.

"What's the idea with him?" I demanded from her as she opened her door for me, but I did not move. I wasn't about to leave even if I had no real reason to be there.

My question seemed to catch her off guard, causing her to sputter for a moment before turning her surprised scowl into an angry grin.

"What the fuck business is that of yours?" she demanded, meeting my anger with her own irritation.

"It is my business. You are my business when I'm with you," I countered back with a smart ass grin as I waited for her to take the bait. I wanted her anger. I wanted it fuel my own. It would justify the twisted knot in my gut as that kept me on edge whenever I looked at the girl and thought about the asshole that had made her cry.

"Your business?" she shrieked before laughing loud at me as if I had told her the funniest joke she had ever heard. It was that cold laughter mixed with her mumbling of _what the fuck ever_ that was like music to my ears and fuel to my fire.

"He's an asshole, Bella. A fucking asshole who dumped you to go bang some nerdy chicks while claiming that it was all for you," I countered back, [putting a negative spin on the bullshit reasoning that he had used to end things with her.

"But what's worse than him ditching you is the damn fact that you are defending him over being that big of a prick. Seriously, Bella? For a smart girl you are incredibly dumb," I growled at her, letting her rage that hung heavy in the air between us feed my own anger.

"You have no right, Cullen. No fucking right," she half growled at me as she abruptly turned to slam the door hard enough to make the meager decorations on the wall jump in response, but I gave her no reaction except standing to face her and all her pissed off glory.

"Whatever, Bella. Now, what's the deal? What makes this guy so damn special that you are willing to sacrifice your dignity to be with him, because it makes no fucking sense to me?" I demanded from the girl with a wide grin, not even caring that my comment made no fucking sense since it seemed to only to her anger. I wanted her anger for no other reason than it matched my own frustration.

"You are an arrogant dick," Bella hissed at me as she stepped closer so that we were nose to nose while I stared down into her dark eyes. I knew she was right yet there was something about her that pushed me to this point of madness.

"A know it all, emotionally stunted, arrogant dick who's just jealous because I managed to have a life when you didn't," she countered back in a low hiss of pleasure as if the words alone did something to her while there was no doubt that their words did something to me. They set off a chain reaction of rage as she smiled at me with a pretty smile that was full of_ what-the-fuck-are-you-going-to-do-about-it? _It was just what I needed to push me where I needed to be.

Without another thought or mumbled heated word, my lips crashed into hers, silencing her god-awful know it all attitude with one hard swoop. Bella was quick to welcome my advances by wrapping her arms around me to steady her against the weight of my body before I toppled upon her.

Bella tasted of coffee, a hint of chocolate and all things there just Bella. It was exactly what I wanted and not at all what I should have needed to ease my frustration. Before I could even move her hands were tangled in my hair, pulling me in the direction of where she wanted the kiss the go. It was simple and I was thankful for her lead since I had no idea where to take this beyond the fact that I needed to kiss her.

Her hands pulled me while her leg tangled around me, tripping me so that I was falling backwards upon her couch with a thud that knocked the air out of my lungs as her body collided with mine. Bella's lips never left mine as I felt her move so that she was straddling me, pinning to me to her piece of shit couch with her barely their body weight.

My mind flashed with a warning sign.

_This is wrong._

It was horribly wrong, yet the most right feeling thing I had ever done in my entire life. It was the crazy intoxicating feeling of being so damn right that pushed me as I grabbed the girl's ass and held her closer while her nimble fingers slipped between the clothes I wore and my over heated flesh.

Slowly, our clothes seem to melt away until we were skin to skin, pressed together on the cushions of her beat up couch. I could not focus on the different levels of wrong that I was crossing when all I could feel was the heavy softness of her breasts as they pressed against my chest. I could not bring myself to stop kissing her when she was everywhere and nowhere that I wanted her to be.

Thoughtlessly, I stood up, catching her in my arms enough so that her legs wrapped around my hips as I struggled to walk with her clinging to me. It was awkward and I was left stumbling over our shoes as well as the clothes we had tossed on the floor before carrying her down the hallway to her room.

I had never been in this room of her apartment, but at my most troubled times alone at night I had imagined this room countless times. I had wondered what color it was and what blankets covered her bed. I had tried to imagine the pictures she hung up as well as the book that I had no doubt she had lined the walls with, but standing in the middle of Bella's room I could not bother myself to even look around when I had the girl in my arms.

We collapsed on the bed in a tangle of arms and legs with Bella's muffled yelp of surprise that I swallowed as I trapped her beneath me. Our kiss softened for a moment, turning oddly sweet against my tongue as I pinned her beneath me, but it wasn't sweet that I wanted. I wanted the fire of her anger. I wanted to taste her rage. I wanted the burn of her fury since only that would make this ok since there was nothing ok about being tangled, half naked, with this girl beneath me.

I found myself grabbing her; pulling her hands above her head so that she could not touch me, being rough when it wasn't needed in hopes to remind her that we were not sweet or loving. I needed to show her that we were fire brimstone together. We were nothing a raging ball of want and stupidity so there would be no sweetness between us, not that Bella seemed to mind. She met my gruff touch and hard kiss with a fervor that took my breath away while reminding me of what a huge fucking mess we were creating. It didn't matter though. None of it mattered except the wicked sweetness of her kiss and the gut twisting want that seemed to take over as I held her skin to skin.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading! Sorry for the all the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I let go of Bella's hands, giving her the chance to push me away, but instead I was pulled closer to her as if she could not get close enough. Her hands were everywhere; tangled in my hair, roaming down my back, scratching me as her legs wrapped tight around my hips. It was the perfect mix of recklessness and want that was just so like this girl.

Kisses blurred from one to another as I found myself tasting the sweetness of her skin as the fine line of control that I barely had was obliterated as I felt her hand slip between us to grab my aching cock with her eager hand. It was the spark that set me on fire as I completely lost control.

Her hand wrapped around me, stroking me with a rhythm that was too out of step for what I needed to cum. It was perfect and so fucking wrong that it only added to my frustration of being so close, yet so far away from completion.

I pulled away from the girl, pulling myself out of her grasp as she moaned in disappointment as my cock slipped out of her grasp. I was tired of the teasing touches and needy kisses. I wanted her, all of her, and there was no stopping that.

I was burning alive with need as she bit my bottom lip with a low groan, arching into me as my fingers moved upon their own accord, slipping between us to caress the bare flesh between her legs. Bella moved beneath me, shifting while parting her legs to grant me access to the most intimate part of her.

I felt her soft moan against my lips, vibrating throughout me as I pulled at her panties, tearing them with one gruff motion to expose her to my touch. The sound of the fabric ripping seemed to feel the space between us while adding to the storm that the raging inside of me that seemed to cry her name.

I could not stop the low groan of approval as I found her soft and slick with excitement for me, but there was no time to enjoy the enjoy the sensation of her like this. There was only the ache inside that demanded that take her and make her mine.

Bella moved beneath me, pulling me to her with an urgency that only added to my own. It was a need that was too much and too heated to tame. It left me breathless as I pushed against her, going ever so slowly, instead of fucking her with a punishing rhythm that my body craved so desperately.

Slowly I felt myself being engulfed in a tight heat that robbed me of any common sense as I struggled to concentrate on anything other than the feeling of being inside of her.

The Standard Model of Lagrangian.

It was one of the most beautiful sets of math equations as it told the story of the universe without ever explaining gravity. It was my go to equation in moments like these when I needed to think of anything besides what was occurring around me. My mind struggled to work the set of equations, fighting the urge to cum as Bella stiffened beneath me. The feel of her inner muscles gripping my cock as I pinned her to the bed was mind numbingly blissful while maddening to me at the same time.

My eyes closed with the effort to same calm and in control, but there was no control when it came to Bella. There was only chaos and want. This moment was not exempt from that as I shook while balancing my weight upon my arms to keep from crushing her. I could feel the sweat on my skin as I envisioned the beautiful equation that described the fundamental particles that made up our universe.

"Edward."

It was a low whisper that was raspy with want and undeniable need. My eyes opened to find Bella's amber colored eyes locked upon mine, pinning me to her as surely as what I had her pinned to the bed by forcing me to look at her. Her hands trailed over my skin, caressing my shoulders before skimming over my neck to cup my face tenderly. It was the softness of touch, yet so strong with how quickly it grounded me to her.

Slowly, we moved together, her hands pulling me down for a kiss as I pulled out of her body.

"Don't stop," she whispered against my lips so soft it was almost like a prayer, but there was no need for her to worry. I wasn't able to stop even if I had wanted to.

"Never," I replied against her lips with more honesty than what I had intended, letting her feel the buzz of my words before swallowing her soft moan as I pushed into her once more.

Slow, uncertain thrusts followed by pleased sighs gave way to pounding rhythms and strangled cries of pleasure. Over and over again I filled her, stretching her as I moved her beneath me so that her legs rested upon my shoulders as I claimed her as mine. I barely felt the sting of her claws tearing at my flesh as Bella tried to hold me to her as she came with a shuddering cry of nonsense that echoed in my ears as the blissful burn of release over took me, reducing me to ash as she held me tight in her arms.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I awoke to the smell of sugar and bacon. It was the bacon that made my eyes open as its goodness pulled me out of my unconscious state, but once I could focus I was lost as to where I was for a split second before her name shook all the cobwebs free in my mind.

Bella.

Just the thought of her name set off a system of warning bells throughout me as well as triggered an excitement that I had forgotten I was capable of. I closed my eyes and shook my head as if to clear my mind, but it was too late. My mind had taken off on fantasies based on reality as images from earlier that afternoon played out in my mind. It was Bella, hungry and demanding, spread out before me as I fucked her without mercy. It was an erotic image that ran through my system like fire as the reality of what I had done seeped into my blood like ice water, forcing me awake with its burn of want and the iciness of what truly had taken place between us seeped into my conscious.

I had sex with Bella.

I didn't just have sex with Bella. I had amazing, mind blowing sex with Bella. I had sex the type of sex with the girl that a person bragged about, told stories about and made his friends green with fucking envy over.

Just the thought of her beneath me, scratching me, demanding more from me caused my heart to pound with adrenaline and my dick twitch to life over the memory of it.

"Damn," I mumbled to myself in the empty room where she had left me as my dick hardened as the echo of her cry of nonsense as she came for me filled my head causing my dick to harden to the point of being painful as it begged for a repeat performance. It was exactly the wrong reaction to have, yet the first one that came to mind as I thought of her.

"So wrong," I whispered to myself as I listened for the girl that seemed to be nowhere in her own home. I knew it wrong, but everything about Bella and me was wrong. It always had been, yet just like years earlier I could not stop the urge to have her any more than what I could stop breathing.

The one thought that kept running through my mind as I lay there on the bed where I had taken her was how fucked up this all was, yet I could not bring myself to run like I knew I should. Instead, I remained tangled in her bed sheets, running a trembling hand through my messed up hair while trying to make sense of what had happened when there was no sense to be found.

I glanced around her bedroom, realizing that I hadn't bothered to look at it before since I was too focused on what it would feel like to be inside of her instead of who she now was. It was shaming in a way since I knew there was more to Bella than just the girl I used to know. I knew this, yet I hadn't bothered with it. I was too focused on fucking my frustration out upon her, as if that was an answer to anything.

I wasn't surprised to find the room overran with books. Her bedroom in the past had always been more of a book haven then a bedroom for a girl. It was the temporary feel of the room as it was littered with moving boxes. I knew from Emmett that she had moved in about four month ago, yet the girl was still living out of boxes as if she was waiting to be move back home. It caused an uneasy feeling inside of me as I remembered where she believed her home was.

Beyond the boxes there were pictures. They lined the walls. Some were in frames and somewhere not, but no matter what they were everywhere. I had expected to find the dark boner killing eyes of my best friend staring back at me, and sure he was in a few, but not as many as I expected since almost all the pictures were of him.

Dr. Riley Biers.

He was fucking everywhere and in each of the pictures he would grin at her while she looked at back him adoringly. It was her sweet blissfully happy grin that caused the knot in my stomach to twist in a sickening manner as I realized how damn happy Bella had been with him.

I looked at them from the vantage point of her bed, wanting to find something, anything that would show that she wasn't happy, but I never found it. She was happy. He made her happy and it was fucking disgusting. Just looking at them together, so happy and so clearly in love, placed a heavy weight upon my chest making it impossible to breathe.

I sat up, struggling for air as panic set in. I needed out of there and away from the girl. I stood up in a rush to find my clothes before remembering that she had stripped me before every entering her bedroom. My actions set off a chain reaction as I knocked a pillow on to the night stand which resulted in knocking her ugly lamp onto the floor with a loud crash of shattered glass followed by silence.

"Fuck!" I half ass whispered and cried, not wanting to bring attention to myself from the girl as I stood in the middle of broken glass and bed sheets.

"Uh huh," I heard her mocking tone agree from behind me, causing me to jump in surprise as I turned to face her.

Bella.

She was wearing a too big of Blackhawks t-shirt that covered her ass while her hair was still a tangled mess from me fucking her across the bed. Her cheeks were still a lovely shade of pink as she looked at me, taking in my nakedness with a naughty grin on her face that did nothing for my half hard cock. I watched as her eyes dipped down to look at it for the space of a heart beat before meeting my gaze once more with that damn over confident one that she always wore. She was sexy and sultry standing there, just begging to be fucked all over again as she leaned against the door frame watching me flounder like the damn loser that I had once been called.

"Going somewhere?" she asked me with a grin that was a challenge. It screamed to me, telling me that it needed to be fucked right off her face as she watched me, waiting for me to respond, but I had nothing to say.

A**N:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I stood in the kitchen watching her as she pulled the last of the pancakes off the electric griddle that she had set up on her counter.

"At least eat something before you go running out of here," she commented in a calm manner that shocked me a little since I was far from calm. I was anything but calm as I waited for some reaction from the woman before me.

"I wasn't running out of here," I mumbled my lie to her as she snorted in response. She knew me too well and for the first time ever I hated it.

"I was looking for my boxers," I defended myself, lying even more as she shook her head without ever looking at me.

"Uh huh, and that's why you tossed my lamp on the ground like a fucktard," she mocked me as I tripped over my tongue to defend myself.

"I did not toss the damn lamp on the floor!"

"Whatever, Edward, just know that you owe me for a new lamp," she countered back just as she turned to hand me a plate stacked high with pancakes before motioning towards the plate of bacon for me to help myself.

"Fine, I'll pay you the five bucks you probably paid for it at the resale shop," I snapped as she laughed at me like always. I took the plate and loaded it with bacon as she motioned towards the pan on the stove top.

"Blueberry syrup," she explained as I looked at her with an uncertain look before shrugging and ladling the blueberry mix upon the pancakes she had made for us.

"What time is it?" I asked her as I moved towards the table with my plate in hand as she followed behind with a pot of coffee to fill the mug she had sat out for me.

"It's about seven at night," she commented with a yawn as I gawked at her in surprise. I had no idea that I had slept that long since it was rare that I slept well at all.

"Yeah, I feel asleep too," she offered up as an explanation for my surprised look before we fell into a comfortable silence. She sat across from me in her t-shirt and panties while I remained in only my boxers. We both looked well used, but there was peace between us that hummed happily. It filled the silent spaces and put me at ease. It was probably the easiest morning/night after unplanned sex I had ever had, but I should have expected that with her since expecting the unexpected with Bella was quickly becoming the norm.

"Listen, Bella…" I began with a sigh, trying to come up with the words that needed to be said so that I would not crush the girl even though I knew there was no escaping it. She was a girl. Sex mattered to girls and this time, even though it was meaningless to me. would matter to her.

"Edward," she said in a warning tone that stopped me cold.

"I know what you're going to say and honestly, I don't want to hear it," she finished with a nod of her head as she looked at me with that damn unshakeable confidence that rattled me to the core.

"You don't…" I began, but with a flick of her wrist I was silenced once more.

"I do and truthfully, Edward it's fine," she said with a warm tone that made me cold inside.

"I just don't want to hurt…" I began trying to going forward with my canned speech of how she too important to lose as a friend, but she laughed.

"Who's hurt?" she asked me with a laugh that took me by surprise.

"Edward, I wanted sex. You wanted sex. It was simple. We both got what we wanted, so who can get hurt from that?" she asked me in a calm tone that held a hint of laughter while I stared at her slack jawed.

This was not how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to cry and I was supposed to tell her that it was all ok. She was supposed to be interested in me and not some asshole that had traded her in for some girl who wasn't nearly as amazing as her. She was supposed to be a normal girl who valued sex and not another person who could treat it like a business exchange.

"Now, you are welcome to stay tonight. I would love the company, but I don't want to push you into something that you have put more meaning in than what I have," she stated in a comforting tone as if she was offering to watch a movie with me instead of inviting me to warm her bed tonight. Just the thought of spending the night in her bed caused my dick to twitch excitedly while causing the knot in my stomach to twist hard inside of me.

"You're sure that you're ok?" I asked her, uncertain if I should believe her or not as I watched her bring a steaming cup of coffee up to her still kiss swollen lips. She had always been a beautiful girl, but there was something about seeing her freshly fucked that made my heart race with putting ice in my veins over the casual manner in what she was dismissing our time together.

"I'm fine. It's you that has me worried," she countered back as she looked at me with those damn all knowing eyes. It was as if she knew that her words were hurting me even though they were exactly what I needed to hear from her. I had wanted it easy and she was making so easy. She was making it simple and it was that simple casualness over what should have been something more that was making me nervous.

"Why?" I asked her with a shrug and a smart as grin to cover up the weird ache that settled in my chest as she eyed me carefully, looking for my faults.

"Because you just seem off, that's why," she replied with the same shrug that I had offered her. I hated that she could see through me.

"I'm cool, Bee. I'm just glad you are so ok with it all," I grinned while giving her a calm look and then watched her grin brighten for me as she bought my lie.

"What is there not to be ok with?" she smirked before taking a bite of pancakes as she ended our conversation.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

After a dinner of pancakes and bacon I was left sitting there, still undressed and not any clearer on what the hell had just happened. It was that shock that left me stumbling over my words and actions around her. I knew things were different because they are different after sex, but to look at Bella one would never think that.

She laughed as nothing was wrong. She smiled just like before. She laughed as if we had never even touched and while overall I was happy with this since it was better than a crying, clingy girl, there was a piece of me that was completely unsettled by her behavior.

It was her happy grin that held my hand as she pulled me back to her bed. She didn't have to pull hard since I followed her every foot step. I wanted to be there, even if I refused to state it.

I let her push me down upon the pillowy mattress that was her bed. I welcomed her with rough kisses that tasted like blueberries as she crawled on top of me as if she belonged that close. I didn't fight her as she rubbed against me, letting her feel how eager hard and eager I was to have her again without saying a word. It was the most perfect, yet fucked up relationship I had ever entered into.

"You don't have to stay," was Bella's feather soft whisper against my lips as my hands slipped under her shirt. This was her out. It was her way of giving me what I wanted, but it wasn't what I needed. I needed to feel her skin once more and the worn out cotton of her old shirt was getting in the way of my wants.

I knew I didn't. Nothing was holding me there to her, yet there I was.

"I know," I replied in between kisses that made her moan as I cupped her tits in my hands. They were heavy and warm in my hands with her skin as soft as velvet as I caressed her.

The words that I wanted to stay were on the tip of my tongue as I fought the urge to tell her, not that it mattered since Bella took my silence as my surrender to her charms. What a willing defeat it was as her hand slipped over my belly to pull my boxers down without any hesitation or timid gestures as she sought out what she wanted from me.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I awoke to feel of her pressed against me. Her skin was velvety soft as she rubbed against me while stretching across me to grab her phone. It was an innocent act, but one that had me hard all over again.

Wordlessly, my hands wandered over her flesh, tracing the curve of her hips as I moved slowly upwards to cup her breasts in my hands while she fumbled with her phone.

"Good morning," I rasped against her ear as I hooked her leg with my own before letting her go just long enough to pull her leg over my hip to give me access to where I needed to touch her.

"Good morning indeed," Bella chuckled softly as her hands reached above me, pulling at my hair as I began to along the soft curve of her neck that she exposed to me. I knew she was laughing at my eagerness, but I didn't care. I knew it was wrong. I knew being with her was wrong, but stopping was impossible.

"Touch me," she half moaned excitedly as she leaned against me letting, using my one arm as a pillow while letting her one hand trail down her body to join my hand as it roamed her curves. I watched with hungry eyes as her fingers circled her hard nipples for a moment teasingly before slipping along the creamy span of her belly. I watched from over her shoulder as she touched her clit in time to the rhythm I set as I worked my fingers slowly in and out of her tender pussy.

"Are you sore?" I asked in a low whisper against her skin as she trembled in my arms from the aftershock of an unexpected orgasm. I knew the answer to this question. I knew she was. She had told me in the early morning hours as I took again in the darkness of her bedroom that she was, but not sore enough to say no.

"Yes," she half moaned to me in a voice hoarse from sex as I pushed my fingers in deep where my cock belonged. I reveled in the soft, wet feel of her skin as her body struggled to keep up with my demands.

"Do you want me to stop?" I asked her before scrapping my teeth along the tender flesh of her shoulders. I knew what the answer was before she even whispered it to me.

"No."

Her answer made me smile as she shivered under my touch. It was the right answer since I hadn't been able to stop since touching her.

I eased my fingers out of her only to replace them with the head of my cock. MY eyes closed on their own accord as her heat and tightness slowly engulfed me inch by inch. It was utter perfection and judging by the sounds that escaped Bella's lips, she felt the same way.

"Slow," she gasped in response as I pushed into her, going deep and hard as I claimed her once more. Her fingers fluttered frantically to her clit circling and teasing her tender nub as I watched her confident moves to ease the ache I was causing inside of her.

"Yes," she hissed in pleasure as I lifted her leg upon mine higher so that I had better access to her. Bella took advantage of the angle as her fingers dipped lower to touch and tease where my cock filled her.

The sensation of her touch mixed with her body wrapped around me was too much, pushing me to go faster as I chased after the release that had pushed me to be with her. It was like a burn that would fade, but would never quite leave no matter how many times I tasted her skin or pushed deep into her.

The pressure inside of me built until being painful as I kissed her sweat sticky neck while holding her close until she finally let out a strangled cry as her body clenched tight around mine, pushing me head first into my own release as I chased after her into the blinding perfection.

Time ceased to matter as I held her close, listening to her ragged breathing while trying to control my own as I floated down from my high. Her hand caressed mine as I held it over her heart, feeling its jarring beats inside of her chest as we lay there, too spent to move any further. It was the best damn way to start a Friday, of that I had no doubt.

"What time is it?" I asked her as I watched her bedroom fill with light from the sun outside. Bella, who was unusually quiet for such a talkative girl, just shrugged in my arms while not moving away from me before turning just enough to see the alarm clock on her nightstand that I could barely read.

"It's six," she whispered to me as she continued to let me hold her without moving away while my mind raced, doing the math as to how much time I had remaining with this girl before I had to leave. If I left now I would have enough time to shower, go home and make it into work with clean clothes.

"Do you have to leave now?" she asked in soft whisper as she laced her fingers into mine as she pressed closer. It was that sweet sleepiness side of her that made me want to stay all day with her and kiss her senseless.

The truth was I did need to go. I needed to leave her and not just for clean clothes, but because what we were doing was stupid and fucking fantastic all at once. It was what I had wanted and what she claimed to have wanted as well, but I knew better. I knew that situations like these with Bella never ended well. Sex without emotion was a hard road to travel without someone getting hurt.

"No, I can stay a while longer," I whispered in response in between sweat sticky kisses on her sensitive skin as she giggled in response, welcoming my lie almost as happy as what I had been to whisper it to her.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! I appreciate every single one of you who have taken your time to read this as well as taken a chance on me with this non train wreck style story.**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I stood before the fridge trying to wrap my head around what had happened. I understood that I had set it all in motion when I sought Bella out after my fight with Jasper, but what I didn't understand was how fast it spun out of control. I had never planned on screwing the girl, yet given the opportunity I would do it all over again and had tried to set up another hook up before even leaving the girl to go to work.

_We stood in her door way, not touching because I knew if I touched her I would never leave her place._

_ "You wanna get together tonight?" I asked her as casually as I could as I stood before her, trying my best to keep some sort of space between us. It was a question I would have asked her even if we hadn't had sex the night before, yet now the question seemed off since there was more to it. There was the hidden meaning question that came along with my query. It was like me screaming at her, wanting to know if she wanted to fuck before or after we watched whatever lame ass movie I picked up from the Red Box._

_ Bella looked at me for a moment with a wry smile on her face. She leaned into me, straightening my tie before smoothing her hand over my the half assed wrinkled dress shirt that had spent the night on her front room floor while caressing my chest in the process. _

_ "I can't. I have plans," she said with a grin before pressing a kiss against my surprised lips and sending me on my way with my lunch tucked under my arm._

"There you are!" I heard Emmett yell at me, causing me to jump in surprise as I leaned against the counter top of the break room. I had been avoiding him since I managed to leave Bella's place for obvious reasons starting with the fact I had spent last night in his sister's bed.

"Hey Emmett," I managed to sputter while trying to swallow the burst of nervous energy that flooded my system as he pushed his way into the room with a wide grin that vaguely resembled the girl I had left just hours earlier.

"What the fuck happened to you?" he asked me as I opened the door to the fridge seeking out my lunch to void looking at him.

"Nothing" I managed to lie as I moved other people's lunches around until I was able to produce the bag of food Bella had packed for me.

"Isn't that what you wore yesterday?" he questioned as I stepped back clutching the bag tightly in my hands.

"No. What are you the fucking fashion police?' I demanded from him as I straightened my tie as he looked at me with a confused look.

"Calm the fuck down, E," he sighed as he held up his hands in defeat as I tried to side step him, but he remained blocking me from leaving the too small of room.

"You always got your panties in bunch," he grumbled as he motioned for me to sit down across from him.

"Why were you an hour late?" he asked me as he tried to change the subject, but that only made me stutter in my already awkward movements as a flash of Bella, wet and wrapped around me in her too small of shower as her throaty moan echoed off the tiles behind her.

"I…uh…I over slept," I lied with a nervous shrug that seemed to satisfy him enough to move on without noticing my nervous tick that occurred every time he mentioned my missing time from work. He had no idea that I had spent the last several hours entertaining his sister or the fact that they girl was quite demanding, not that I cared at all. I could meet her demands happily.

"Man, I thought Alex was going to piss himself trying to explain your project," he laughed as he looked up from the freezer meal to the bag of food that I slowly opened up.

"What'cha got there ?" he asked as I pulled out a an elaborate sandwich that Bella made for me along with a small bag of chips that she must have raided her cabinets to give me even though I hadn't witnessed her putting it all together. I guessed that she probably made the sandwich while I finished showering alone just so I could actually make it into work.

"Just lunch," I shrugged while trying to down play the feast that was created for me, as he looked at the bacon sandwich that Bella had loaded down with tomatoes, lettuce, and every other bit of produce she had before slathering mayo upon it.

"That looks too good for something that you would have made," Emmett commented, immediately noticing the finesse that Bella had used when making it.

"Is your mom in town or something?" he asked me as I shook my head no before regretting lying to him. It would have been easier to lie than tell him the truth, but before he could question me over this Jasper walked in. He paused to look at me with a critical eye that I had come to hate about him.

"You look different," Jasper announced as I rolled my eyes at him.

"No, I'm serious. You look different, more relaxed. That crazed serial killer look that you claim is your so called normal look is gone," Jasper continued on as Emmett laughed at my expense.

"Maybe he got laid," Emmett threw out there as a joke, but there was no joke about it as I froze what could only be considered awkwardness as he called me out without realizing it. Jasper, on the other hand, noticed my stunted movement immediately and howled in laughter.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed with a hoot as I remained stoic. The bastard wasn't going to out me with his fucking nonsense.

"You got laid!" Jasper yelled causing people to turn in the direction of the break room since his damn voice seemed to carry across the empty office space.

"Would you shut the fuck up?" I hissed at him as he continued to laugh like the fucking moron he was.

"About god damn time," Emmett said with a laugh while clapping me on the back in congratulations as he stood up to leave us in order to call his wife.

"About damn time," he repeated with a laugh as he walked out with his lunch balanced in his hands. Jasper waited until he was gone before turning towards me with a wicked grin. I could see that he was on verge of saying something that he would regret so I beat him to punch as quickly as I could.

"You say one word about her, one fucking word, Whitlock, and I will break your fucking nose. Do you understand me?" I growled at him as I watched his smile fade a little before returning full force with its bright mockery.

"I would never say one bad word about Emmett's little sister. You know how ridiculously protective he gets over her? Besides, he's one of my best friends and I would never want to do anything that would hurt him like that," he commented in an innocent tone, but his smile didn't match it. He knew what he was doing by going in for the kill by reminding me how badly I had fucked up when it came to Emmett.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading! Your comments all are making my day & I thank you for reading for this little story.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The day passed painfully slow as I kept checking my phone for phantom messages from Bella, but there was nothing. I knew she had no reason to contact me. She had told me she had plans tonight and then worked tomorrow so maybe Sunday she'd give me a call, but somehow the lack of communication was grating at my nerves.

"Don't forget!" Emmett yelled at me as I walked out of the office, nodding in agreement that I would indeed come over for the dinner with him and Ange that I had been avoiding for weeks.

"I'll be there," I yelled out to him as I walked out of the office just as my phone chimed for an incoming text. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to find a small picture of Seth dressed in navy blue scrubs with a smirk on face that was disturbing. He was lying across a counter top in what I think were supposed to be a sexy pose, but instead just ended up making him look ridiculous.

S_eth misses you._

Just reading her words made me grin and groan at the same time, but it wasn't the picture that made me smile while scaring the shit out of me at the same time. It was the message that Bella tagged along with it because I found myself missing her as well.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	31. Chapter 31

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I stood in front of the overpriced house in the perfect family neighborhood that Emmett lived in and waited for him to answer his fucking door. I had no patience that night. It was as lost as what I was after my night with Bella.

"Hey fucker!" Emmett greeted me with a lazy grin as he pulled open the over sized door to let me.

"Welcome to how the other half live," he mocked as I stepped inside his overly decorated front hall.

"You mean the other halves that are upside down on their mortgages, right?" I teased him, hitting him in what I knew would be a tender spot since everyone knew that housing prices were in the crapper here.

"Shut up," he mumbled as Angela yelled to greet me.

"Just so you know, Dad is here tonight as well," he mentioned as we walked towards the kitchen since there was nothing formal about dinner at Em's house.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," I groaned before I had a chance to shut my mouth, causing him to laugh.

"No, it gets better," he snorted as he held his hand out, motioning for me to stop.

"He brought Bella a date," he whispered in a low snicker of delight as if this knowledge was the funniest shit that his father had ever done. My heart pounded against my ribs in response to his words.

"A date?" I questioned as I thought of the girl I had spent the previous night with. I could still see her brown eyes glazed over with sex and her cheeks pink from excursion with my name dangling off of her lips. She was so damn beautiful like that.

"Yeah, a date," he laughed as he motioned towards the dark haired guy who sat at the table looking like he was about to puke all over it.

"She's so pissed," he laughed as he began walking once more while motioning for me to follow him.

S_he's so pissed._

It took a moment for his words to settle upon me. Bella was here. She was here already and I was not expecting that.

"Oh, well, that sounds nice," I heard her say in a bored tone that made me bite back a smile since I could hear the anger in her tone. I knew her anger all too well. It was hot and tasted like burnt sugar on my tongue. It was addictive and I found myself half hard from just the sound of her voice. It left me shaking from the odd mixture of embarrassment and desire.

"Come on, you have to see this guy," Emmett chuckled as he patted me on the back, urging me forward, with this hard clap. It only added to my nervousness, causing me to trip over my feet as I entered the room. It was just the commotion needed to cause everyone to stop their dry conversations so that they could stare at me.

"Cullen," I heard Charlie McCarty greet me in his deep voice that always seemed to set me on edge. It was thick with intimidation and too damn cop like to be friendly.

"Good to see you are still as graceful as ever," he commented drily like the smart ass he was known to be, but I didn't mind. It wasn't his judgment that bothered me. I was used to it when came to the old man. It was the dark brown eyes of his daughter that held me there as I wondered what she was thinking as she looked at me with a sweetly surprised look upon her pretty face.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading. Sorry so short & sweet, but a nasty cold has taken hold of me & is refusing to let go. **

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Officer Eric Yorkie was a man's man. He liked hunting and fishing. He was a fan of crime shows and Dateline Mysteries. He would often see Bella when she was at work as he would come in the ER with drunks and assaults that the police were call in on.

"So, you didn't work last night," he commented with a grin as I watched Bella for her reaction. She gave him none.

"What d you mean you didn't work? I thought you were working last night?" Charlie bellowed in surprise, causing everyone at the table to jump in surprise.

"No, I traded hours with someone, not that it matters to you or anyone here," Bella commented with a grin that hinted at her anger.

Emmett was right. She was pissed. Her eyes burned with rage that she tried to hide with a sweet smile, but I knew better. I had been on the receiving end of that anger and knew when she was trying to fake it.

"Anyway," Officer Yorkie said with an uncomfortable smile as he tried to turn the conversation around from the fucking nightmare that it had turned into before Charlie took over the conversation once more.

"What are you doing here?" Bella asked me in a low accusing whisper as she leaned closer to me. I could smell that fruity soap that she used since it matched the smell of my skin.

"Emmett invited me for dinner," I whispered back, leaning into the girl so much that we were almost touching.

"You never said…" she began with in a hiss of a whisper to me as I watched her red painted lips moved in a blur of anger.

"You never asked and you never said where you would be either, so don't start with me, Bella," I half growled in her ear as she shuddered in the wake of my words before feeling the sharp pain that followed her kicking me hard in the back of the leg.

"What the fuck was that for?" I demanded from her loudly, causing everyone who sat at the table to turn and look at us as we huddled together at the far end. Officer Yorkie watched us with calculating eyes as her father glared at her before turning his dark gaze on to me.

"Enough of this playing around, Bells," he bellowed as Emmett walked into the room with a platter of food followed close behind by Ang. Dinner was done, yet the show was about to start.

"Dad, leave her alone," Emmett commented in passing as he sat the roast done that Ange had cooked while she fussed over the dinner rolls she had made.

"No, this is ridiculous. Yorkie here is trying to ask your sister out and she's playing footsie with Cullen," he grumbled as he motioned towards us as if we were misbehaving children and not grown adults who had their own list of problems that involved each other.

"Go ahead son, ask her out," Charlie prodded the young cop, who sat on the other end of the table red faced from embarrassment.

"Eric, I just don't think…" Bella began as she shifted in her seat to sit more upright while placing some space between her and me.

"That's the problem," Charlie cut in.

"You're thinking too much, but you always do that. Yorkie here is a good guy and a hard worker. He would be a good man to have."

Charlie's words hung heavy in the air around us as everyone fell silent in what could have been dumb founded shock.

"Well, you should date him then, Dad," Bella countered back with low growl to her father as the guy paled at the end of the table.

"Sorry, Eric. You're a nice guy, but I don't think this will work," Bella finished trying to let the other guy down nicely, but it was too late. The humiliation was clear on the cop's face, not that I gave a damn about it.

Dinner took an awkward turn as Officer Yorkie politely thanks Ange for the hospitality before excusing himself while Charlie glared at Bella. It wasn't until after he was gone that all hell broke loose between father and daughter.

"You have no right!" Bella hissed at him just as the door shut on Yorkie's departure.

"No right?" he bellowed at her with a hard laugh that made me cringe.

"You're my daughter and it's hard for me to watch you make mistake after mistake," he laughed in a belittling manner while Bella fidgeted nervously beside me. It was as if his words knocked the fight out her.

"Riley wasn't a mistake," Bella responded in an even tone, but I could feel the loss of heat in her tone.

"Like hell he wasn't!" Charlie half yelled at her as she shifted in her chair once more trying to hide her pained expression.

"He used you to make it through med school and now where is he? He's gone, that's where, so don't act like he was Mr. Wonderful," Charlie grunted disgustedly before asking Emmett, who was oddly silently during this display, to pass him the potatoes as if nothing had happened.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Bella half whispered in a breathless tone as she looked away from the man, but I could hear the bitterness in her voice without seeing her eyes to know that she was hurting over her careless comments.

"You know I'm not a fan of Dr. Rat face," I interjected quickly, needing something to stop this mess that was slowly spiraling out of control. I listened to Charlie sputter over his potatoes while Emmett snorted at my words, but it was Bella that I needed the reaction from. She turned abruptly to look at me with a questioning look that told me she was listening and mildly irritated by my assessment of Dr. Wonderful.

"What?" I questioned her directly as I shrugged as if nothing was wrong.

"He's got a rat face. It's all pointy and shit," I sighed as she looked at me as if I was fucking insane.

"But to imply that Bella has poor decision making ability is just….bullshit," I commented looking directly at Charlie McCarty while ignoring everyone else at the table.

"She works a job where people's lives hang in the balance. Mistakes cost people their lives, yet she does it with grace," I continued on slowly, willing him to listen to me even though I knew the man well enough to know that he wouldn't.

"She's smart, Chief. Way damn smarter than her brother," I laughed as I motioned towards Emmett while trying to tone done the seriousness of what I was saying with a laugh from Emmett.

"So, I don't see the need to make decisions for her. She's not a child anymore," I said as I glanced over at Bella who was watching me with an almost disbelieving stare.

"Yeah, that's right. I said it," I teased her with a grin that broke her stunned stared as she half grinned for me before rolling her eyes in response.

"So, I think Bella is perfectly capable of choosing who she wants to be with out your help and with all due respect, Chief, are you really the right one to pick out long term relationship material?" I finished with a grin to the old man who was watching me with a heated stare.

"I mean, how many failed marriages do you have now? Three? Four?" I mocked with a grin as I listened to the collective gasp of surprise at the table followed by the one sound that I wanted to hear; Bella's soft giggle.

"You will watch your mouth, kid," he barked at me as I shook my head.

"No, I don't think so, sir. I'm just saying you can't sit there and pass judgment on Bella, or me or anyone really, when you can't keep a wife and only date old strippers," I laughed as Ange smothered her laughter in her napkin while Emmett watched me with wide eyes of shock. No one talked to his father like that. No one, but this wasn't about just anything. This was about Bella and I hated to see her hurt so it had to be done.

"You are in no position to play match maker, let alone with your daughter," I finished with a firm look to the old man who stared at me as if he was plotting my death.

"Now, if you'll excuse me," I said as I pushed my chair out to leave the table for a moment before Charlie McCarty made good on his silent threats.

I walked into the kitchen letting the room explode in a mass of half assed yelling behind me. I could hear Bella's voice rising above the fray as I stood in the kitchen letting her handle herself while I sought out another beer.

The arguing lasted only a few moments as the voices died done from the other room.

"So," Bella said in a firm tone from directly behind me, causing me to jump in surprise since I hadn't heard her come in the room. I turned to find her standing before me. I watched her tug on her dark sweater dress that clung to her curves that I knew all too well. She was pink cheeked from fighting and still buzzing like the angry bee she always was.

"Did you mean what you said?" she demanded from me as I stood there, looking her over, remembering what she felt like with her skin against mine. It was distracting and comforting all at once as she scowled at me.

"About Dr. Rat face?" I asked her without bothering to wait for her response.

"Hell yeah, haven't you noticed how pointy his face is? He's teeth is kinda bucked as well," I snickered before making a rate face at her with my teeth out as she looked at me with a cross look on her pretty face.

"Not him," she groaned as she shook her head while not taking her eyes off of me.

"Your dad? Oh yeah, I meant that. He's a womanizer that only dates old strippers. You knew that, right?" I asked her as she stepped closer to me while shaking her head at me.

"No," she sighed as she took another step closer to me so that there was no space between us.

"I mean, I knew about him, so yeah, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about me," she whispered as she looked away from me in a nervous manner that was endearing since Bella McCarty was never unsure about anything. She was confident to the point of it being a fault so this was different.

"Did you mean what you said about me?" she asked me again in a soft whisper that made me want to kiss her or laugh at her, I wasn't sure which when it came to the girl. I was leaning more towards kissing her as she looked away from me like the shy girl I knew she wasn't.

I reached out, crossing the space between us, to touch her, tilting her chin upward so I could see her eyes that she had tried to hide from me. Bella only resisted me for a moment until finally looking at me with her all knowing dark eyes that were filled with questions that made my stomach twisted into an uncomfortable knot.

"Yeah," I confessed in a soft, lame whisper that made her smile as I looked into her hypnotic eyes that seemed to pull the truth right out me.

A**N:**

**Thanks for reading & forgiving all the mistakes in this chapter. Much love to you all for the well wishes and thanks for the tip of lemon tea since it seems to be working : )**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Bella closed the small space between us with a quick step. I hadn't even let go of her face when I felt her arms around my neck pulling my head down towards hers in a hard kiss that took me by surprise.

There was no air to breathe only Bella as her fingers knotted in my hair as she held me there, opening her mouth beneath mine in effort to tangle her tongue around mine in the most delicious way possible. It was a simple act that was enough to bring me to my knees as Bella swallowed the soft moan that I could not keep from escaping from my lips.

My hands moved on their own accord, shifting from holding her arms to trailing along her curves to grasp her ass in a weak effort to pull her closer. It was pointless since no matter how close she was she wasn't close enough.

I gripped her ass tighter, pulling her hard against me before lifting her off the ground before dumping her on the counter top with a clatter as our careless actions caused Angela's spice rack to spill all around us. It was a loud clatter of glass and metal, but it was nothing compared to the sounds of our overheated kisses mixed with gasps for air.

I stepped between Bella's legs, letting my hands trace over the curve of her legs while slipping along her black tights and under her dress to touch her in the way I longed to and the way she demanded from me. I had barely touched her inner thigh when the gasp in the door way caused us both to jump in surprise.

"Whoa!" Angela garbled out loud as she stood in the kitchen door way with her dark eyes wide from what appeared to be surprise.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" she asked in a low hiss of laughter as she watched me step back from Bella who remained seated, spread eagle on the counter top from where I had been planted firmed between those luscious legs of hers.

"Nothing," I sputtered with a nervous shrug as Bella remained curiously quiet.

"Nothing my ass," Ang grumbled as she motioned towards with a flick of her wrists as we stood together, yet apart in her kitchen.

"You were about to hump right on my granite counter tops," she bitched as she shoved me out of the way before pulling Bella down to stand beside me as she snorted in dark laughter.

"Emmett…" Bella began to say, but was silenced with a hard glare from Angela.

"Emmett is dealing with your jackass father for you so the very least you could do is not bang his friend while tries to smooth over what has turned into a shitty night," Ange shot back at my girl with a growl that seemed to silence Bella for the moment before turning back to me.

"You go back in there and try to act normal," she said as she shooed me out of the room with an irritated sigh.

"I don't think..." I began as I tried to soothe the situation with my pointless explanation, but it never went that far as Angela cut me off.

"Yeah, I know," she snapped as she eyed me with dark angry eyes before turning her glare back towards Bella.

"Now get in there and try to act normal. I know it's hard for you, but try," she mocked as I stared at her, refusing to move.

"I swear to god, all I do is follow around after you idiots cleaning up your messes," Ange grumbled as she turned her full attention to Bella once more after dismissing me with a flick of her dainty wrist. This was the power Angela I knew that never took any shit, especially from me.

"Stop staring at me, Edward. I'm not going to hurt her, just maybe knock some common sense back into her, so just go on. She will be there in just a moment, but first her and I need to talk, don't we, Bella?" Ange asked her Bella in a mocking tone, as if she knew more about what was going on than what she should have, but there was no way. She had just walked in on what had been a less than innocent kiss, but nothing more than that.

"Go," Angela hissed at me as Emmett bellowed out my name.

"Emmett is the last person I want to deal with right now and you owe me, so go," Ange bitched with an exasperated sigh as she stepped closer to grab me by the wrist to drag me out of the room while Bella watched. She gave me a soft grin that hinted at her wantonness and a playful side that I had experienced last night in her bed. It was that smile that lit a fire inside of me as I grinned at her response.

"Oh god," Ange groaned as she watched us for a moment before throwing her hands up in the air in what could have been defeat, but I wasn't sure since she still remained there, stopping us from going any further than the stolen kisses we had shared.

"Wait!" she called after Ange and I as she scrambled off the counter top to stop my departure. I watched with a half grin as Bella cross the small distance that separated us, not caring that Angela was watching her with a sour scowl on her face.

Bella wasted no time as she wrapped her arms around me, pulling me down so that we were nose to nose. I found myself practically holding my breath until her nimble finger tips came up to rub at my lips.

"You can't go out there with lipstick on," she whispered to me while Angela watched us with a pissy look on her face. I could hear the tremor in her voice that it mirrored the slight quiver I felt vibrating inside of me that her kiss caused. I closed my eyes against the gentle tugging sensation on my lips as she wiped off the evidence of our kiss with her thumb. It was a teasing pressure that went straight to my cock as she held my gaze with her own sultry one.

It was an awkward position to be as I stood before her with my face in her hands as my hands fought the urge to touch her while under Ange's watchful gaze. It was horrible and erotic all at once as Bella blatantly ignored her sister-in-law while wiping her lipstick off my lips as she worried on her own kiss swollen lips.

"Edward, I want you to know what my intentions are, so there is no misunderstanding between us at all. I have every intention of riding you," she whispered in a soft voice just for my ears with a grin that was sassy with desire that seemed to light her up from the inside out.

"Hard," she emphasized in a soft whisper that might as well been a scream for how it affected me. I watched her sexy grin that made my cock stand at attention with need over her lustful promise.

"Ok, enough," Angela bellowed in a frustrated manner as she pushed me out of the room while Bella's naughty laughter trailed behind me.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I lingered in the hallway, avoiding Charlie while trying to listen to what was being said between Ange and Bella. I leaned close to the doorway to hear something, but instead of whatever secret meeting the girls were having, I was left listening to heated hisses of words and half assed whispered responses.

"Bella, you said that…" I could hear Ange begin in an irritated tone that was drowned out by the sound of Charlie laughing over something Paul, Emmett's son, had done.

"I understand. I really do, but this is ridiculous…" Ange began again as I leaned in closer to the door frame hoping to hear something, anything that Bella might say in response, even though it shouldn't matter. I should give a fuck what Bella had to say since in the end this was just supposed to be fun. Sure, we hadn't planned on taking it to a physical level, but there was nothing stopping us from it either.

"Riley is an idiot and while I get you think that he's your Romeo, have you ever considered that maybe you're not his Juliet?" I heard Ange counter back in an exasperated tone to whatever bull shit Bella had spewed at her.

Riley Biers.

He was always seemed to be first and forefront in her mind. I should have been relieved to know that he was Bella's top concern, yet just hearing his name took the edge off of the need to fuck her on the counter top. It left me feeling deflated in more ways than one.

"I like secrets too," a deep throaty voice whispered in my ear all hot and breathy in a way that felt nothing, but wrong. It was just enough to cause a small scream to escape from my lips as I pushed away from the form that was hovering behind me, causing me to slam into the wall before me.

I half turned to find Emmett looming behind me. His eyes were wide with shock before launching into loud, raucous laugher that seemed to shake the house around us.

Fucking prick.

His laughter broke whatever come to Jesus moment that was occurring in the kitchen as silence filled the air between all of us.

"What'cha doing?" he asked me in a breathless tone that did nothing to hide his laughing at me. It was a legitimate question and one that I could not answer.

It was the question that I needed to ask myself since this was not how I normally behaved when it came to women, but this was no woman, this was Bella. Or at least that was the excuse I had given myself. It was an honest question, but it wasn't me that had broken down and demanded the truth. It was Emmett.

"I…uh…I was…" I stammered as I stepped away from the door way like the guilty party that I was.

"Were you eavesdropping?" he asked me with a wide teasing grin, daring me to deny it when he had caught me red handed.

"I just wanted to know what they were saying," I offered up with a smart ass smile that felt off on my face, but I knew it would be expected of me.

"Did you hear anything good?" he asked as he pushed me aside as if he was trying to listen as well.

"No," I managed to say as I watched him lean into the door way only to have Angela yell in response.

"What the hell are you doing?" she called out to him as he ducked back towards me, but it was too late. He had been caught and because of it we all would suffer.

"Quit your bitching and let's eat!" Charlie bellowed out as Ange stepped out of the kitchen to glare at Emmett with Bella right behind her.

"You owe me an answer," Ange growled at him as she pushed him towards the dining room leaving me and Bella standing there alone.

"What was that about?" she asked before looping her arm through mine. It was a small act that made me want to smile for all its innocence since I knew there was nothing innocent about the girl. She was fire and want. She was everything wrong in my life, yet just so damn right with her wicked promises of pleasure.

"Emmett was eavesdropping," I offered up with a shrug, completely throwing her brother under the proverbial bus instead of owning up to my own actions.

"Nosy fucker," she grumbled in a frustrated manner as she led us into the dining room where the rest of her family was waiting with her hand holding tight to my arm.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Happy 4****th**** of July to all my friends in the US!**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	35. Chapter 35

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I had spent countless dinners at Emmett's house. Most of them had been fun or at least tolerable, but that night with Bella at my side and Chief McCarty watching my every move was anything but comfortable.

"What?" I finally demanded of the man like the asshole I had been accused of being at times, but I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't just there under his watchful gaze and keep calm. It was way too much now, especially with his daughter's hand stroking my inner thigh.

"You look guilty," Charlie half grunted at me as he continued on with his soul crushing cop stare. In the past I could have laughed at him and rolled my eyes since never once had my transgressions with Bella gone beyond an innocent kiss given to me by a drunken sixteen year old girl, but those days were gone. I knew too much. I knew how Bella felt beneath me and what her moans tasted like on my tongue. I couldn't hide that carnal knowledge, especially when her hand was slowly stroking my thigh, inching closer to where my aching cock wanted her to be.

"I can smell it coming off of you in waves," he spat at me while glaring at me with his blink less fish like eyes.

"You are…are wrong," I stuttered like the huge loser I was when it came to situations like these. His eyes continued to bore into me, making me nervous and awkward as every move I made felt uncoordinated under his watchful gaze. I closed my eyes for a second just to break the weird staring contest I had with this man.

"I mean, what could I have done?" I sputtered as with a giggle that sounded off even to my ears.

"I don't know what you've done, but clearly you've done something," Charlie countered back in a firm tone that matched that god awful stare of his eyes while Emmett watched us go back and forth in this pointless conversation. Just adding Emmett to the mix of fuckery that was engulfing me caused the sick feeling in my stomach to grow.

"I have done nothing," I managed to say in a high pitched voice that sounded nothing like my own as I felt Bella's fingers trace over the inseam of my jeans in a slow manner that made my cock twitch excitedly in spite of the urge vomit that I was fighting against.

"Sure you have, E," Emmett laughed as I turned quick to look at my friend, who was laughing at my expense.

"Edward had a one night stand last night," Emmett offered up as if that information explained everything and in the past it would have, but now it was all fucked up.

"He could never take the guilt of fucking and chucking a girl," he went on with a laugh that fell flat around the silence dinner table.

"Really?" Ange asked with a know-it-all grin.

"Edward, I thought you spent last night with Bella?" she asked in the sweetest of a voice dripped with sarcasm as I felt everyone's eyes bore into me.

"Wow," I heard Emmett breathe out as if he was stunned by the bomb shell that was just dropped on everyone. The table was silent as I watched my best friend's face, waiting for what Ange said to sink in while hoping like hell that Charlie would never figure it.

The stillness mixed with Bella's ever teasing touch became too much just as Emmett let out a loud whoop of laughter that caused me to jump in surprise.

"Holy shit! You took my baby sister out as your fucking wingman!" he practically screamed in laughter as Charlie continued to watch me with his dark eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that he knew.

"Oh my god! Beezus, you were there when Edward hooked up with some chick?" he laughed as I looked from him to Ange, who just shook her head at us and her husband's stupidity.

"Yeah, I was," Bella said with a smile that was lightly patronizing as she looked at her brother.

"So?" he demanded, wanting to know what type of woman that would have agreed to have gone home with me, but little did he know that woman was at my side with her hand firmly between my legs.

"She was a pretty brunette with amazing tits," Bella said with a happy grin while Emmett hung off of her every word.

"Nice," he commented as he offered me his fist in appreciation.

"You're a fucking moron, Emmett," Ange sighed as she grabbed her glass of wine for a deep drink as Emmett offered his fist to Bella for a fist bump in congratulations as well.

"Anyway, I hate to cut this short, but Edward and I have plans so…." Bella said as she moved her hand as she pushed her chair back to stand up before looking at me with an expectant look in her face. It was time and I was more than ready to leave this dinner party behind to follow her where ever she might lead me.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I followed Bella towards the door as she continued to ramble on to Emmett. She spoke with ease about the girl I took home as if she truly had watched the whole thing go down instead of being the equally guilty party she was.

I listened to her weave a tale that was nowhere near being accurate except for the aggressive sex that followed an unplanned get together with Bella.

"Maybe Bella is good luck?" Emmett asked me from over his shoulder with a brought grin that only added to my feeling of shit that was suffocating me.

"Yeah, maybe," I offered back with a grin that felt off on my face.

"Edward," Ange called out to me, causing me stop as I stumbled behind them, needing to leave before my tell tell heart burst from all the hidden truths that I allowed to be told in order to save my ass.

"Yeah," I breathed out as I turned to face the one person outside of Bella who knew the truth. Her eyes were dark with worry as she looked at me. It was a concerned look that I was used to seeing since I had been on the receiving end of Angela's concern.

"Listen…." She began, but I stopped her with a wave of my hand.

"I know…I know," I whispered to her as I turned to watch Bella giggling with her brother as if nothing was wrong.

"Listen, just be careful," she sighed as she looked at me with a weary look that only added to the guilt that I carried, yet not enough to stop me from wanting Bella.

"Are you coming or what?" Bella yelled out to me as I looked from Ange back to the girl. For a split second I thought of the chance I had to right things. I had the chance to say no, turn away, or at least say something that would put an end to this fuckery that I had created yesterday, yet as I looked at Bella I could think about was her promise whispered in my ear. It was enough to obliterate what little sense I had when it came to her and doggedly follow her footsteps out of the house while her brother unwittingly egged me on.

"You gonna go find Ms. Thursday-Night-Love-Goddess?" he teased as I rolled my eyes at him as if he was being ridiculous, when I knew all too well, it was me who was out of his fucking mind here.

"Only if he's lucky," Bella responded for me before grabbing at my arm to pull me out of the house with a loud laugh as her father yelled at her to get her head out of her ass. It was a typical Charlie McCarty response and a very telling one since to me it screamed that he knew.

We both watched as Emmett closed the door behind us, leaving us out in the frost filled air of a November night. It was sobering, but not enough to make me walk away from her. Instead, I found myself stepping closer, huddling close to her to offer her what little warmth that I could share with her.

"Your brother…" I began as I looked down at her, taking note of her pleased expression and silly grin that made me want to smile as well.

"Is a huge moron!" she laughed loudly before looping her arm through mine as I shook my head in response.

"Come on, Edward!" she laughed as I lead her towards my car since the Chief had given her a ride out the suburbs instead of her driving.

"You know he's idiot," she laughed as she gripped my arm tight before turning towards the walkway that I was slowly dragging her towards in order to leave this hell night behind.

"Ok, he's an idiot," I agreed in a dead voice, causing her to laugh loud and brightly at me.

"Bella, you can laugh all you like, but he's my friend and when he finds out…" I began as turned towards her with a scowl that made her laughter soften.

"Who said he had to find out?" she asked in a soft voice that hinted at something more than just a reasonable offer of protection.

"I mean, if this is too much and Emmett means too much to you to risk it then maybe we should just call it an end, Edward," she offered up in a rational manner than shocked and saddened me all at once since I wasn't expecting this reaction from the girl at all.

"I just don't want to lose my friend," I offered up as an explanation to my shitty behavior, but that only seemed to add to her growingly detached demeanor.

"I think it's nice that he's that important to you," she offered quietly as I opened my car door for her like the gentleman I was far from being.

"I think it's great that you put such value on friendship," she finished with a grin that suggested that she thought it was anything but great. I shut the door behind her once she was inside and walked around the car to join her out of the air cold night, feeling more disappointed than relieved by her calm words of agreement.

"So, when you make that change?" she greeted me with her insane question as I entered the car beside her.

"Was it when you forfeited your balls to the troll or were you always such a pussy and I never noticed it before?" she asked with a wicked grin that stunned me as I gawked at her in response since she had robbed me of any words to say.

"Because I'll be honest with you, Edward, women don't need another pussy in our lives, we already have one of our own," she snorted at her own stupid ass joke as I glared at her in response.

"You don't understand," I began as she huffed and rolled her eyes as if I was boring her.

"I do. I swear, I do, Edward. The truth is that I just don't care and I don't understand why you do," she commented as she turned away from me to look out the window while ending our conversation with her cold dismissal.

**AN: **

**Thanks for reading! Sorry for all the mistakes.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

We drove in silence, both of us stewing in our own anger, yet not saying until I could no longer take it.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I demanded from her as I glanced in her direction before looking back at the road. Bella was staring out into the traffic that surrounded us as we made our way back into the city. My words did nothing on reaching their mark as I listened to her snort of laughter.

"No, the better question is, who the hell are you?" she demanded with a hollow laugh that sounded oddly sad as she shifted in her seat to face me. I turned to glance at her for a second before focusing back on the road and he traffic that held us prisoner together.

"I'm serious, Edward. _Who are you?_" she asked me with a screwed up face as if the words were bitter on her tongue.

"I am the same person I've always been…" I began, but was silenced by her plea of loud, mocking laughter.

"No you aren't" she countered back as I turned to glare at her for a second before turning back to the road in front of me.

"I mean, you look like him and sometimes, I swear I can see him in your eyes, but no…" she began off giving me the space of a heartbeat to respond, but it was wasted time since I was stunned silent by her observation.

"Edward, you were always loyal and caring when it came to your friends…and once upon a time I was considered a friend. I was a part of that circle of people that you protected," she rambled while waving her hands about in a nonsensical manner.

"You still are," I interjected quickly, reminding her of what was obvious to me.

"Not really, but that's ok," she offered weakly before taking a deep breath to begin again.

"You were fierce, Edward, so fierce and just so…so… fucking beautiful that watching you… just be you…was amazing," she finished in a soft tone that hinted at some sense of sadness that made no sense.

"You weren't scared of anything and you had this lightness about you that… that… drew people in. It made people want to know you, to be your friend, to be at your side since everyone just knew the world was at your finger tips," she continued on in an almost awed like tone.

"It made me want to be with you," she confessed with a soft laugh as if she were embarrassed by such a memory.

"But now…" she sighed as I took the turn off that was closest to her place, but even then it wasn't close enough. I wanted the girl gone.

"You are this guy…Just like any other guy. You go to work and… live as if… as if there was nothing more than that," she said as if her assessment of my life was a pathetic one.

"There is nothing more than that," I countered back, feeling the sting of her words in my chest as I drove her to her place.

"You're wrong," she whispered to me while looking away.

"The Edward I knew... the one you used to be…He was passionate about things... he had opinions and believed not only in himself, but in others around him. He had dreams and goals… and not one of those fucking goals was to live a mediocre life with a half assed existence," she barked at me as I turned to stare at her in disbelief.

"Don't give me your wounded look," she snapped as I stared in response, speechless, which was a state I was used to being in when it came to Bella. I turned to face her better, to argue the point that she was wrong, but there was no time since as I opened my mouth to speak her phone chimed out in protest, alerting her to phone call that was both welcomed and cursed.

I listened to her grumbled hello as I continued to drive, letting the miles and minutes pass as I came ever closer to setting her free even though the idea of it made me uneasy. I listened to the half grunted responses she gave as well as the low sigh of displeasure.

"Fine. I'll be there in a few," she said, finally speaking in a full sentence since beginning the conversation.

"Is everything ok?" I asked her and then kicked myself for bothering after her tirade against my character. Bella seemed stunned by it as well as she turned to look at me with dark, troubled eyes.

"No," she confessed with a tired sigh as turned away from me just as I made the left hand turn into her building's underground parking.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"So…" I began slowly as I took a sip from the beer bottle that was warming in my hand as I turned towards Seth, who was staring off into space as if the answers to his problems were written on the shitty bar room wall that we sat by.

"You didn't need to come along," Seth shrugged he slowly came to life before taking a drink off the fruity looking mix drink he insisted on ordering.

"I know," I sighed as I closed my eyes trying to block out the panicked looking Bella who told me to go home while holding back an irate Tanya, who was too preoccupied with throwing clothes out the apartment door to notice me as I blocked Seth from taking the brunt of the crazy bitch's anger. I could have gone home. I could have walked away and left Bella to deal with the mess as she had so insisted, yet I couldn't leave her. Instead, I stepped closer, took hold of her hand in mine while pulling her away from the screeching bitch just long enough to tell her that I was taking Seth for a drink. Bella, whom I had discovered was one to protest when it came to receiving help, remained unusually quiet while giving me a stiff nod of her head before pushing Tanya back into an apartment that was only doors down from her own.

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked and then cringed over the idea of actually talking about a failed relationship with a guy that I barely knew.

"I don't know… I mean, Tanya is…" he began with a tired sigh that I took as my cue to jump in.

"A bitch?" I questioned causing him to gasp in shock before gritting his teeth in what could have been anger, but it was hard since that tight grimace was quickly replaced with barking laughter.

"Yeah… She really is," he laughed loudly, letting his shoulders sag in what was clearly defeat.

"But she can't help it, man," he explained away as I watched his thoughtful expression.

"I mean, she's not like Bella," he offered, catching me off guard with the mentioning of Bella's name.

"Bella, man, that girl wears her heart on her sleeve and when she hurts… you can't help but to feel it with her," he explained as I watched him, surprised by his words, yet knowing that he spoke the truth. She had always been that way, even as a kid.

"That asshole, Riley, man when he kicked her out… It about killed her and well, all of us who love her, but now she has you so…." He commented before trailing off to take a drink of the melting chick drink before him.

"She doesn't have me," I responded quickly, causing Seth to choke on his drink as he looked at me with wide eyes.

"She does, but it's not like that. I mean, we're together, but…. Fuck," I muttered, wallowing through a conversation in which I could not explain what the hell I was doing or my place in the girl's life.

"It's cool, man. None of my business," Seth rasped as he looked at me with dark eyes that were appraising me for some reason that made no sense.

"What happened back there?" I asked him, redirecting the conversation back to something that did not involve me or Bella or anything that we might be together.

"Tanya is… scared," he sighed as he looked at me with sad eyes that made no sense.

"We're all scared," I snorted response, causing him to laugh out loud.

"I'm not. I know what I want and it's her, but… Tanya… well, she's not so sure," he replied with a hollow laugh as if that explained everything.

"Some people take more time to figure things out," I spit out through gritted teeth, hating like hell that I was defending Tanya to this guy who clearly had been gutted by her.

"Yeah, I guess," he sighed before motioning towards the bartender for another drink.

"What about you and Bella?" he asked me as if there was a story to tell when the truth was there was none.

"Nothing to tell," I gritted through clenched teeth at the mentioning of her name while my mind raced as to where she might be at that moment. I wanted to know and hated that she held that type of power over me.

"Bullshit," he grumbled before slipping the last of his drink just as the bartender sat a fresh one down before him.

"That's cool, Edward, but know that I'm here when you need to talk," he offered to me as I shook my head at him.

"Tanya threw me out tonight," he announced in a loud voice that surprised me while finally admitting what the hell Bella and I had walked into.

"Why?" I questioned before covering my shock that they were even together with a drink of beer.

"I told her I loved her," he confessed calmly while staring straight ahead at the battered looking mirror behind the bar.

"She had told me that we could be together as long as I understood that there could never be love between us and I blew it," he finished quietly as I stared at him, unsure of what to say in response.

"It's crazy, right?" he asked with a sad laugh as he finally turned to look at me with empty eyes that made me uncomfortable.

"I mean, what person doesn't want to be loved or cared about? What type of girl is ok with being just a fuck object and nothing more?" he laughed, but there was nothing funny about what he was saying. It was empty and cold. I hated how it felt, especially considering I understood Tanya. I understood the need for no emotion. I had demanded it from Alice and gave her none in return.

"I thought I was winning her over, but then tonight I couldn't help myself. She was so damn beautiful and the words slipped out…" he stammered on as he stirred the watered down drink with a straw that the bartender had stuck in it.

"Maybe it's time to walk away," I suggested in what I hoped was a calm tone as I thought about my own attitude and fuck ups when it came to life as well as love.

"I can't do that," he half bitched in outrage as he turned to look at me with disbelief that surprised me.

"Why not? I mean, if this girl doesn't get it and can't feel the same in return then you should move on to someone who could," I offered as he stared at me with horror in his eyes.

"You ever love someone, Edward?" he asked with a sad grin that hurt my heart to witness. I could not find the words to speak, which was fine since there was a sense of embarrassment in admitting that I had never loved anyone, so instead, I just shook my head no.

"That's too bad. You would understand if you had," he murmured as he looked away as if somehow in this fucked up situation I was the one to be pitied, not him.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Three in the morning. It was the witching hour and nothing good ever came to me at three in the morning. That night was proving to be no different as I sat alone in my misery.

The apartment was silent. I had long ago gotten rid of Seth, delivering him to a friend from work's home half assed drunk and far from happy. It was the silence that surrounded me that made me wish that I hadn't since it was that cold nothing in the air that refused to let me sleep.

I lay upon my pillow topped bed, listening to nothing as I tried to drown out Bella's pitchy tone in my head. Her harsh words, calling me out on not caring about her, even thought that faulty belief of hers was pure bull shit. I had always cared about her, if I hadn't then I wouldn't have let her go, but I could live with her accusations concerning our friendship. What I couldn't live with was her bullshit claims about my life.

Her words, her fucking bitter words, haunted me. They played over and over again in my head, forcing me to face what she claimed was my truth. Was as I apathetic what she claimed and if so when did that happen?

Her words circled my head as minutes passed, sending me closer to the morning without any resolution. I thought of failed dreams and decisions made that were supposed to be temporary, yet four years later I was I was stilling with those decisions. It was fucked up and more I thought about it the more I hated that to some extent the girl may be right.

When I could not stand the bed room for one moment longer I slipped out of my sleepless bed to sit in the darkness of my living room. I had barely ghosted in to the room when I was greeted by a hard banging on the door. It was loud and demanding. It was surprising even though I knew who it had to be on the other side of the door.

I tried to remain calm, hiding my excitement, as I opened the door to greet her. I was dressed only in my boxers and for a moment I wondered if I should get dressed, but that moment passed as I remembered that she had seen me in less.

Bella stood before me blurry eyed and rumpled looking as if she had crawled out of her own bed to come join me in mine. She remained quiet as she looked at me with tired, dark eyes.

There was so much to say, yet neither one of us wanted to say it. The words burned in my throat, constricting it, making it hard to take a deep breath, yet I could not speak. Bella seemed no better off with her worried look and front teeth cutting into her soft rose colored bottom lip. It was a nervous energy in the air between us that was charged with emotions like regret and maybe something else that I could not name.

I waited for her soft apology, even though I knew she would mostly choke on the words before ever saying them to me. Bella refused to speak, choosing to act instead by pulling me into an embrace that was sloppy with fatigue. It was warm and soft like the girl who clung to me in the door way of my silent apartment. It was enough to break the stillness as silence was replaced with the soft sigh that escaped her lips as she pressed close, followed by my own ridiculous sounding sigh of happiness as I realized that I had missed her just as she returned to me.

"Come to bed," I whispered to her, not giving her the option to say no, since it was statement and not a request. Bella, for once, did not argue with me as I pulled her inside and closed the door behind us.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo,**

**Mamasutra**


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I awoke to the sound of silence and the smell of coffee. For a moment I had almost forgotten that Bella had been there with me.

Almost.

It took a full moment for my mind to catch up with the fact that Bella had come over and spent what was left of the night with me. I remembered her crawling into bed with and then nothing as I fell asleep. I had no idea if she was still here or not, I just knew I was in no mood to talk to her.

Slowly, I sat up and reached for my glasses so I would be able to see her smart ass expressions that I had no doubt she would greet me with since that was just her way. Not bothering to dress, I walked out the front room only to find it empty. It was the same in the kitchen. There was no trace that she had ever even been there, except for the pot of coffee that was minus about two cups.

Looking around at the emptiness that surrounded me I was instantly greeted with a rush of relief mixed with disappointment. It was conflicting since I wanted her gone, yet I wanted to see her all at the same time.

Without Bella to argue with, I went about my typical Saturday of doing nothing. I cleaned up a little. I tried to read, but in the end the nervous energy that had started to consume me since being around the girl got to be too much and I was left with needing to get out of self created tomb.

I found myself on the street, taking the El to punk district. It was home in a way since this was where Aro's comic book store was and had been for years.

"Edward!" the old man called out to me, greeting me warmly, as I entered the dingy dive of a place.

Aro Volturi was an older man who lived and breathed his dream of comic books super heroes. It was his passion along with writing stories that never seemed to gain any notoriety. He was a good friend, but more than that he was a mentor to me.

"Aro," I barely had a chance to respond before being pulled into a fatherly hug that always took me by surprise. It shouldn't have since every time I saw the man I was greeted like his lost son.

"You never come around anymore," he sighed in s disappointed manner that was like a dagger to my heart.

"I'm sorry, I've been busy…." I began, but stopped as I heard the all too familiar voice laughing in the back ground as if she hadn't a care in the damn the world.

"You know, if you needed help all you had to do was call me. You didn't need to create such a mess to get my attention," I heard her call out happily before trailing off into a tense filled silence as her dark eyes met mine.

"Oh!" Aro exclaimed happily as he looked from me to the girl.

"Edward, I forgot to mention that Isabella was here!" he clapped with excitement before elbowing me as if this meeting was some sort of happy reunion and maybe it would have been if we were just seeing each other again after years apart, not hours after she left me alone in bed.

"How nice," I managed to say through gritted teeth as I looked at Bella, who was standing there with a smart ass smirk on her face.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading and sorry about the mistakes!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	41. Chapter 41

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"What are you doing here?"I demanded in a low his as Aro turned to leave us alone. She wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be anywhere but there with me.

"I could ask you the same thing," she chuckled as she shook her in what appeared to be irritated amusement.

"I came here to talk with my friend," I shot back as she rolled her eyes at me in such a manner that made me long to spank her pert ass.

"Yeah, well, I come here every Saturday that I'm off and I have _never _seen _you _here," she commented exaggerating her words as I stood before her struggling to remain calm.

"Children!" Aro called out to us with a happy clap of his hands, pulling us out of our private fight to face him once more.

"I am a lucky man to have my two favorite people here," he half assed sang as he waved us, urging us to join him behind the counter.

"Now sit down you two and I'll make us some tea," he tsk'd as we followed his request as if nothing wrong.

"I have no idea what has your panties in a twist, Edward, but it would be wise to take the scowl off your face," Bella commented as she leaned in close to me as if she was sharing some secret instead of making threats against me.

"No idea?" I half screeched at her in shock as she shook her head at me as if I was over reacting to her fucking nonsense.

"You basically tore apart my life and I'm supposed to be ok with it?" I demanded from her as she looked at me with an innocent look, but I knew better. There was nothing innocent about this girl.

"The truth hurts, I know, but…" she began as I turned in the piece of shit car to face her as she mocked me.

"I know you," I announced in a rush of words in a too loud of voice that caused Aro to yell, asking if I had called for him.

"You aren't so fucking perfect, Bella, so stop acting like it," I gritted out through clenched teeth as she laughed at me, calling my bluff since she knew the truth. I had nothing on her and she knew it.

"Oh tell me, dear Edward, what it is about my life that you know?" she asked me in a low whisper that almost sounded seductive as she mocked me.

Almost.

I racked my brain trying to think of something, anything that I knew about the girl until finally one distant memory of a conversation with an irate Emmett that concerned Bella.

"You didn't go to med school," I blurted out as the memory came back to me in bits and pieces as she stared at me wide eyed in disbelief.

"You didn't go to med school because of some guy," I announced as she continued to gawk at me.

"Your brother was pissed because your MCAT score was higher than the loser that convinced you that he should go instead of you," I rambled on, reminding her and myself of her mistake.

"You gave up your dream job for some guy, some dumb fucking guy no less," I laughed before victoriously throwing my arms up in the air while making touchdown signal with my arms as if my words ended our fucked up game.

"So yeah, your epic fuck up makes my apathy look like the best fucking decision of the year!" I half yelled-laughed at her as the girl glared at me, willing me dead with the sheer power of her mind.

I watched as Bella wordlessly stood up and turned away from me with a huff that only added to my hollow victory.

"What's go you so upset, Bumble? Is it the fact that it's only good for you to point out where others have failed? Can't take it when it's your fuck ups on display?' I called after her as she walked away from me without a look back.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading and sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	42. Chapter 42

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"Bella?" I heard Aro call out after the girl as she attempted to storm out of the store, but was thwarted by the old man.

"What's wrong, tesorina?" he asked her in his lilting Italian accent that only made his term of endearment come across more creepy than what it truly was. It was enough to cause Bella to stop to face the old man while I watched from behind the counter. It was a scene that played out before, but under different circumstances even though it was always the same thing. I would say something and Bella would storm off only to return with a scowl on her face and Aro's arm around her.

"Edward is an asshole," she hissed as she eyed me with her evil glare that made me laugh.

"You two were always so passionate together," he sighed almost dreamily as he led the girl back to where I was standing.

"I'm so glad to see that the passion has not died," he commented as he brought Bella beside me as I rolled my eyes at the man. He had no idea that the only passion that roared between me and the girl stemmed from anger, not the romance he envisioned.

"You two would always brighten my shop with your bickering," he chuckled as he set the cups down upon the glass case tops before turning back to grab the pot of tea he had made for us to share.

"Just like me and my Sophia," he sighed happily, reminding us both of the wife that he had lost in years ago. Sophia Volturi held Aro's heart in her hand and since her death the fire within him had dimmed. It was painful to watch the once vibrate man dim slowly before my eyes, yet I understood why and had always envied the love he had for her. He had made loving someone look simple when I knew all too well there was nothing simple about love and relationships.

"The passion," he laughed as set down a plate full of oatmeal cookies that he had pulled from a box to treat us with it.

"Its breath taking," he finished as he looked at us while Bella and I remained as far apart as we could under his watchful gaze. Both of us remained silent, not wanting to hurt our shared friend with the truth of what we were, which was anything but passionate.

"I hate you," she whispered to me in a childish tone that made me snicker in response to her foolishness.

"Well, you should know with the apathy I feel towards life that I don't give a shit," I replied with a grin that made her lovely face turn red with anger. She was always pretty when she was mad, but seeing Bella red faced and stumbling for words made her stunning.

"I didn't give up med school for a guy," she defended as I watched her struggle to find what she needed to say.

"Sure," I commented as I watched her cheeks grow a deeper shade of pink over my casual dismissal of her words.

"Riley just thought that since we were getting married that it would be easier and more cost effective if one of us worked. I _offered_ to let him go first and he tried to talk me out of it…" she rambled on causing me to gawk at her as she mentioned Riley's name.

"You gave up your dreams for _him?"_ I demanded as she sputtered to find the words just as Aro stepped back into the room with the tea bags he had been looking for so we could proceed in the fucked up tea party he had insisted upon.

Bella fidgeted next to me waiting for the moment to speak without Aro's ever present happiness. It was long moment of fake smiles and happy murmurs as we both took a bite of the store bought cookies to please the old man.

"Edward, do remember chasing away the boys that swarmed the store to see Bella?" he asked with a chuckle as we both shifted away from each other as Aro brought up our shared past that neither of us liked to address.

"I do," I confessed before taking a large gulp of the steaming brew. It burned going down causing me to gasp for air in response to the heat. The painful burn that followed was nothing compared to the look that Bella gave me as she watched me with a closed expression, not that it mattered since I was done. I was done with this ridiculous game of judging each other for pasts that cannot be changed. I was done with her bitchy comments and harsh words. I was done with her excuses and laying the blame for the problems in her life everywhere, but where they belonged on her. I was just done.

"Listen, Aro, I have to go, but I would love to get together for dinner this week if you are up for it," I offered in a rush of words as Bella stared at me. I needed out of there and away from her before I opened my mouth to say something that she would regret.

"That sounds wonderful!" the old man exclaimed happily.

"Also, mom has asked for you to come for Thanksgiving again," I threw out there while trying to ignore the girl at my side, which was impossible. I could feel each movement she made. It was maddening in the way that it made me lose my concentration as to what the hell was going on around me.

"Please tell her I appreciate her remembering me and would be honored to join your family," he replied with a serious tone as if the invite was more meaningful than what it truly was.

"Sure, I'll tell her you'll be there," I offered up before turning to leave. In my leaving I was forced to walk past Bella, brushing against her as I made my way past her. Her hand shot out and took hold of mine forcing me to stay, but it was too late for her half assed apologies. I just wanted away from her. I pulled my hand from her cold grasp; bid my farewells and left her to deal with an over excited Aro.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I escaped Bella with ease, leaving her to tend to Aro as I stalked off to ease my wounded pride. It was fucking ridiculous, but I was too far gone to care.

Rage was an ugly bitch.

It was cold and cruel. It left me reeling with doubt as I sat there in the stillness of my apartment trying to determine who I was more pissed at; me or her.

An hour passed into another as time slipped by me I thought of failed attempts and stalled starts. I pulled out my lap top and found myself searching for something, but what that something was I wasn't sure until I found myself looking at jobs that I once would have dismissed without Bella's damning words.

I had barely finished my online application and attached my long over looked resume before I was greeted with the angry pounding upon my front door. I didn't have to look out the peep hole to know who it was.

It was Bella.

It would always be Bella.

"Hey," I managed to say as casual as I could as I opened the door to face the girl who had constantly pushed and prodded me until I was on the verge of losing of my fucking mind.

"Hey," she replied in a shaky voice as she glanced at me with wide brown eyes that made her resemble the girl that I had once known, but I wasn't fooled. Bella McCarty was far from the innocent girl I had once known. She had sharp tongue and a mouth that needed to be shut.

"You left," she commented as she leaned against the door frame of my apartment as if our stilted conversation in the hallway of my building had been planned.

"Yes, I did," I replied, not budging at all, yet knowing that she wasn't about to give me the apology I wanted.

"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Bella whispered softly as she looked away in what could have been embarrassment, but I couldn't tell since I couldn't see her eyes.

"Neither did I," I offered up immediately, wanting her to know that I was trying to hurt her with my comments about Dr. Fucking-Wonderful.

"You didn't hurt me," she hissed back as she turned to glare at me with fire in her eyes that caused me to stutter in response over her lie. I had hurt her. I could see it burning her as she met my gaze.

"Ok," I offered with a shrug as I down play what had happened just like what she was insisting upon. It was ridiculous to play like this, but I was discovering from my time with Bella that she liked games.

"I just…" she stammered for a moment as if she was unsure of what to say. It was that uncertainty that caught me off guard almost as quickly as what her rage had.

"I just…I just hate it that you're mad at me," she spoke in a whisper of a voice that was the essence of the girl I had loved once up on a time.

"I'm not mad at you…Well, not anymore," I confessed slowly as I realized that it wasn't her I was mad at, instead it was me. I wanted to be mad at the girl. I wanted to rage and lay the blame for the sick feeling of inadequacy at her feet, but I knew better. It was all me and she was just the asshole who had pointed out the truth when no one else had.

My words seemed to lighten the air between us as Bella leaned into me with a smile that was far from bright, yet just enough to fill the empty spaces between us.

AN:

Thanks for reading!

Sorry about the mistakes.

Xoxo

Mamasutra


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

She was beautiful like this, too beautiful for words really, not that we spoke them. We should have sat down and discussed what the hell we were doing. We should have slowed down and at least acknowledged that maybe what we were doing was a bad idea, yet we didn't.

That wouldn't be us.

Instead, once Bella was inside of my apartment she kissed me. It was a sweet kiss that was bitter from the half assed apology that lingered on her tongue. It was just the distraction needed to forget about the fighting and name calling we had lashed out upon each other.

One kiss lead to another and before I could even think straight enough to question what was going on we were back on my bed, clothes gone, and tangled together.

"Bella," I whispered as I felt her kiss along my chest, teasing me with her tongue as it drew patterns on my skin while straying lower with each wet swipe.

"Hmmm" she murmured happily, a response as she licked my nipple, pulling a hiss from my lips as from the mind blowing sensation of her tongue upon me combined with her body hovering over mine just enough to let her nipples, stiff from my mouth and anticipation, graze my skin suggestively.

"What are we doing?" I demanded in a hoarse voice just as her tongue swirled around my belly button. My stomach muscles clenched hard with her teasing touch as my hip lurched up on their own accord, pushing my ever impatient cock against her belly in hopes to hurry her along even though the rational side of me was questioning everything we were doing.

"What do you think?" she with a giggle as she stopped her wet kisses just as my cock became nestled between her breast. The sight alone of it was enough to rob me of rational thought, but combining it with the feel of her skin around me was too much. What little fight to do what I considered to be right was gone, and in its place was the aching need to have her.

My lack of word was all the response she needed to move against me, letting me feel the silkiness of her skin against mine before engulfing my cock in the wet heat of her mouth.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	45. Chapter 45

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The heavy silence between us pinned me the bed more than the slight weight of the girl who literally had me by the balls. I tried to focus on the pleasure she offered while engulfing my cock in an almosy artful fashion while half assed blocking the burn of jealousy as my mind in briefly centered upon where in the hell she had learned this skill.

"Bella."

"Bella."

"Bella."

Her name became a breathy whisper of a prayer, begging her to stop while pleading for her continue since I was sure I would die if she stopped.

Slowly, with a lingering lick up the shaft that ripped at what was left of my sanity, Bella released me from her mouth only to grin at me with smug look on her face.

"You wanted something, Edward?" she purred softly in a teasing manner as she continued to caress me with firm strokes that kept me right on the edge of cumming, yet far enough away that I could kind of think.

"What…" I stammered thickly before closing my eyes since watching her touch me was almost as erotic as the sensations her touch created within me.

"What are we doing?" I managed to whisper, causing her to laugh as I shook beneath her touch.

"Why do you kep asking me that?" she whispered as I felt the wicked twist of her hands around my cock as I arched off the bed for her.

"Because…" I trailed off as I was rendered stupid from her touch.

"Because why? Because it's me and not _her?_" she shot back in a breathy hiss, but I could hear the bitterness in her tone. It was ugly and impossible to ignore no matter how good her hands felt upon me.

"Yes," I managed to say as she let go of me, moving against me so that she was straddling me. She didn't understand what I was saying, and how could she when I could even form the words to make her see that she would never be Alice. What was more important than that thought was the fact that I didn't want her to be.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	46. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

There was something beautiful about a girl who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid go after what she wanted, but for Bella it was something more. She was stunning upon me with her eyes bright and her cheeks red with passion. It was impossible not to give into her demands as she arched above, naked and proud of the fact that she had reduced me to a babbling idiot who was just holding on for dear life to her.

She slipped against me, sliding along my length, causing me to hiss in response as she shifted above me, caging me in with her arms braced around my head.

"Tell me what you want," I could hear her faint whisper over the roar of blood that echoed in my ears.

"Tell me what you need," she continued to tease as she grind her wet center over me, teasing me as she allowed just the tip entrance before pulling away, robbing me of what I wanted as well as any thought in my head.

She continued on with her slow torture, sinking down on me just enough to give me a taste of how she felt at this angle only to pull away just as I needed to push deeper.

_Bella._

It was the one word vibrating through my body, burning on the tip of my tongue. It was right there, teasing me, just as badly as the girl who was demanding my complete submission.

Bella hovered above me, letting me touch her soft skin and ample curves as she moved against me, giving me just as whisper of what could be when my phone chimed loud announcing a call. I didn't have to look at the phone to know who it was since I knew who I had assigned that fucking ring tone to.

"Fucking Emmet," I groaned out loud in a voice that sounded nothing like me as I reluctantly attempted to move beneath the girl to grab the phone to silence it, but it was pointless. She grabbed my wrists to hold me in place beneath her. It was startling, pulling me from the lust stupor I was lost in as her strong grip jarred me back into reality in time to the blaring of my phone.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that to be your answer," she snorted in a breathless manner, laughing at me like always while letting me feel her skin against mine as she pinned me to the bed with her slight weight.

"But whatever gets you off, I guess," she whispered with a wicked gleam in her eyes that made me grumble before pressing a heated kiss against my lips that silenced my smart ass response. It was with subtle, yet deliberate movements, Bella twisted above me. Her chest pressed into mine, letting me feel it hard jarring as it matched my own beat for beat as we both ignored the phone as it screamed for attention.

"Oh, god," she murmured softly, moving to sit up while bracing herself upon my chest as I held her hips in effort to keep myself from thrusting up into her while she slowly sunk down upon my aching cock.

AN:

Thanks for reading!

Sorry about any mistakes.

Xoxo

Mamasutra


	47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I could feel her breathing as I lay on top of her, too spent to even care that her ankle was still caught up on my shoulders from when I had flipped her on her back to have my way with her. Bella didn't seem to mind that I had her spread eagle and bent in two beneath me as she continued to hold me close as random aftershock tremors shook me above her.

"You ok?" she whispered sticky sweet against my skin as another uncontrollable tremor shook me above her. It was enough to allow her to move beneath me so that she was able to wrap her legs around my waist tightly so that they mirrored the hold she had upon my neck.

I opened my mouth to lie to the girl, but the moment I looked into her eyes I couldn't. She always had that power over me, the sick power that left me stupidified and unable to woo her with any bull shit line that other girls would have believed.

"No."

It was the simple truth that I hated to confess to since it left me weak and oddly exposed to a girl who was always willing to go in for the kill both verbally and emotionally when it came to me.

Bella continued to hold me, squeezing me tight to her while peppering my neck with soft kisses and soft murmurs of comforting nonsense. It was sweet and calming. It was so far away from the piss and vinegar that I had come to know the girl to be that it only added to the emotional vertigo that I was suffering from in the girl's arms.

"Breathe," she whispered to me encouragingly while trailing a hand down my back, as if her simple suggestion was the answer to all that ailed me and I breathed in her scent I could not help reluctantly agreeing that she was right.

**AN:**

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**Mamasutra**


	48. Chapter 48

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"So," Bella stated with a grin as she slipped her arms around me, pressing close for warmth, to ease the shiver that shook her frame, but I could hear the laughter in her voice. It was soft and warm, much like the girl who was still lounging with me in bed while I fed her strawberry ice cream since that was the only sweet thing I had offer her and she had demanded something sweet.

"What is it about Emmett?" she asked me before I popped a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth to silence her.

"Shut it, Bumble," I groaned as I listened to her snort of laughter that seemed to brighten the place with its silliness.

"I'm serious, Edward," she counter back with a wide grin as I rolled my eyes at her since I knew where this was going. She had started making her gay jokes about me and her brother the moment I eased off of her while refusing to let her go.

"I mean, what is it?" she asked with a grin that needed to be kissed off her face and I was just the man to do it.

"Is it the beer gut?" she asked in an innocent whisper and wide eyes as she licked at the ice cream on the spoon that I offered her.

"Or is it the fact that when he takes off his shirt that he vaguely resembles Chewbacca with that thick layer chest and back hair he has?" she finished with a laugh, unable to keep a straight face as she mocked me over saying her brother's name.

"I mean, I know how much you used to love Star Wars," she cackled like the bitch she could be when she wanted to, but there was nothing bitchy in her tone. It was sweet laughter that made me grin at her ridiculousness even though retaliation was in order.

"That's it," I murmured as I pulled her closer, dragging her naked form across my lap as I quickly tossed the carton of ice cream on to the night stand close to me as I moved on the bed to hold her.

I enjoyed her laughter and the sight of her bare skin as I pulled the sheet back and quickly smacked her ass with a sharp, stinging blow that left her gasping as she laughed at me.

"Oh, Edward!" she called out in an overly sexual tone that resembled the moaning from a bad porn, mocking me once more as if it were her job to do so.

"Spank me again," she moaned like a porn star in between laughing at me while trying to arch beneath my touch, pushing me to spank her again.

"Wait!" she called out with a laugh as I continued to hold on my lap as I stared at the red hand mark on her ass cheek that matched my hand perfectly.

"I'll make it good for you as well," she encouraged with a snicker as she twisted on my lap to face me, not that I really allowed her to move. I wanted her pinned beneath me, slightly helpless, and begging for my touch.

"Really?" I questioned, speaking with a hoarse voice that sounded nothing like me, not that I cared. I was too busy thinking of all the ways she could make this good for me beyond having her naked and on my lap.

"Yes," she purred with a snort that was far from sexy, yet affected me all the same.

"Just image it's Emmett's thick, meaty hands upon you," she whispered in a naughty tone before cackling loud in her teasing laughter as she caressed my thigh with her soft hands. It was the mental image of Emmett's sausage like fingers upon me that caused my dick to deflate a bit beneath her.

"Ok, that's it," I hissed before smacking her ass once more before wrestling her upon her back and pinning her to mattress with ease. Her laughter was loud and contagious as I held her down, fitting her against me in the most perfect of manners as until I was not only holding her, but laughing as well.

"I only said his name because it was him that was calling me," I explained as I pressed against her, listening to her low purring gasp that always escaped her lips when I was this close to her. It was one of my favorite sounds that she would make just for me. It was music to my ears as it told me that she wanted me almost as badly as what I wanted her.

"But to answer your question from before," I whispered softly and then paused as I hovered above the girl, letting my lips drag against hers as I spoke. I watched dark eyes go wide while retaining all that warmth from her teasing. It was that warmth that robbed me of any common sense when it came to her.

I slowly let go of her wrists, rubbing them softly before trailing my touch down her arms while feeling the rise of goose bumps across her skin from my touch. It was as mesmerizing as the girl that I had pinned beneath me.

"I only want you," I finished against her lips, feeling the buzz of my long hidden truth vibrate between us for the space of a heart beat before realizing my epic mistake.

This wanting the girl and even needing the girl was something that wasn't supposed to happen. Bella was a filler; a fake, someone to get me from point A to point B in order to take Alice's ego down a notch or two before moving on with my life and on to the next faceless girl that would warm my bed. She was not supposed to be the girl I wanted to spend my nights with or thought about during the day. She wasn't supposed to be any one more than Bella McCarty; friend and now awkward lover, not the girl whose laughter was something I needed to hear on a daily basis. I found myself masking my confession with a conscious effect and overly heated kiss in hopes to make her forget that I had even spoken those words.

**AN:**

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**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	49. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Monday morning came bright and way too early as I walked with Bella t to my car in her turquoise scrubs that she had picked up from her apartment after agreeing to stay the weekend with me.

"What are you doing tonight?" I asked her as I drove her to work, hating that I was being forced to ask her what she was doing almost as much as I hated that she hadn't asked me what my plans were yet.

"Laundry," she offered with a yawn before taking hold of my hand in hers.

"Sounds like fun," I commented as I felt her fingers inter lock with my own as I fought off the smile that her touch brought me.

"It should be. I've never had my own washer and dryer to use. I swear, you're so spoiled, Edward," she tsk'd, letting me know that her laundry plans included using my washer and dryer instead of the laundry mat that was down the street from her place.

"Yeah, I guess I am," I found myself replying with a grin as I looked over at the girl who was watching the traffic around us with her eyes covered from her sunglasses.

We remained quiet as I drove while she continued to hold my hand in hers even though I would have to let go of her just to shift the car properly. Bella wasn't deterred at all by my needing two hands to drive at times since whenever I had shifted gear she would just take hold of my hand in hers once more.

We remained like that in a quiet state of uncertainty until pulling up to the employee area of the hospital.

"I can drop you off at the emergency room doors," I offered as I noticed Tanya waiting out in the cold for Bella with a scowl upon her pretty face.

"No need. I told Tan to meet me here," she explained as she motioned towards her friend who had noticed us and reacted by making gagging motions as we pulled up next to her.

I watched as Bella opened the door to get out while greeting her friend with a hello.

"Oh Jesus," Tanya groaned her disapproval as she looked from Bella to me with a scowl.

"Don't tell me you spent the weekend with him," she whined as I watched Bella turn pink cheeked while hushing her.

"Mind your business, T," Bell hushed her as I felt her hand slip out of my mine slowly. It left me feeling oddly cold inside, as if she was some hoe embarrassed of her time spent with me.

"Jealous?" I called out to the pissed off woman, causing Bella to turn to look at me with a surprised look before laughing while Tanya made gagging sounds once more before giving me the finger.

I grabbed Bella's hand back in mine pulling her back into the car while Tanya watched us with an impatient look upon her face.

"I'll pick you up later, ok?" I reminded her as she grinned for me.

"Yes, pick me up later," she agreed with a smile that hinted at something more, but what that something more was I hadn't figured out as of yet even though I found myself dying to know what it was.

Bella moved to leave me, but instead of letting her go, I pulled her back into the car before leaning over the space between us to kiss her. It was a coffee flavored kiss that would have to last me all day until I would see her again even though I knew that once kiss would only leave me wanting more.

"Oh Jesus," I heard Tanya groan loudly in disgust as I kissed the girl who was quickly becoming mine even though I never planned for it to be that way.

"Bella quit fucking around and let's go," Tanya bitched at her as I held her face in my hands, kissing her good bye as if it would be days, not hours until we were together again.

Slowly, I ended our kiss, leaving Bella breathless and me uncomfortable just in time for her to get out of the car to walk off with her friend. I watched her go, knowing I should leave, yet needing to know that she would make it inside the hospital safely.

"I can't believe you let him kiss you," I could hear Tanya bitch to Bella as they walked away from me. I lingered just one more moment since I needed to hear what she would say even though part of me was dreading her response.

"He's not _that_ bad, Tan," I could hear Bella explain away our kiss and while walking away. It was the closest she had come to giving me compliment beyond the low hiss of _yes _she would whisper while I had her begging for my cock. Her some what kind words left me feeling ridiculously happy and oddly horrified all at once.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	50. Chapter 50

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

"Cullen!" I heard Alec bellow in an angry tone. It was the same fucking tone he had used with me since Alice reminded him that we once had dated, which was fucking stupid if you thought about it at all since he had met her through me.

"Yeah?" I called back with a sigh as I turned towards him and the conference room I had just left. I found him standing in the doorway trying to strike menacing pose, yet there was nothing menacing about a man over his prime trying to hold on to youthful days that had long passed him by.

"You got a minute?" he asked as he ran a hand through his Justin Bieber like hair that made him appear like a bigger douche bag than what he truly was.

Did I have a minute?

Not really since I could see Bella at the end of the hall dressed in her bright blue scrubs, hair pulled back and my lunch in her hands. I watched her with a half smile as she laughed along to whatever bullshit story her brother was telling her while she waited for me. This had become my every day routine; Bella meeting me for lunch when she could and phone calls when she couldn't.

"Can we do this later?" I asked as I turned back towards Bella, who had caught my eye with a snarky grin as she waited for me.

"I…uh…I guess," he stammered as I left him standing there in the door way baffled by my response as Alice lingered in the shadows, watching me leave her now boyfriend behind.

"Since when did you start bringing Cullen lunch?" I heard Emmett question her as I approached them.

"I guess it started around the same time we started screwing around together. I mean, me making him a sandwich is the least I can do after all that he does for me, right?" she teased him with a wickedly suggestive grin and matching wink as Emmett made gagging sounds in response to her confession.

"Would you stop kidding around, Beezus," Emmett whined as I stopped before them meeting Bella's soft grin with one of my own. He had no idea and how that was I had no idea since we really hadn't hid the time we spent together.

"You know I have a weak stomach," he continued to bitch as I took the lunch bag away from Bella only to have to keep hold of it, creating a connection between us as we stood there. It was a connection that Emmet was oblivious to.

"You are such a pussy, Em," Bella muttered as she motioned me forward to leave her brother behind like we did most afternoons for the quiet and privacy of an empty conference room.

"Where are you going?" he called out to us as we left him standing there, watching us go as we both opted to ignore him as we continued down the hall to the one conference room that no one ever used. I watched as Bella looked back over her shoulder at her brother one last time before looking over at me with a curious look. I had stopped protesting her suggestive comments in front of Emmett, instead choosing to remain silent since it was my belief that my uncomfortable silence spoke louder than any words I could say.

"You need to chase after your boyfriend?" she mockingly asked as we approached the door, knowing that every time she told him we were intimate I cringed a little since sooner or later he would actually figure out that it was truth.

"Why? You want him to watch?" I demanded from her in a low whisper against the skin of her neck as I pressed her into the wooden door. I knew that it was the reaction she wanted just by the breathy gasp of delight she made as I pinned her there, knowing damn well that anyone could come upon us. My Bella liked the thrill of sex in places where we could be caught. It was a fantasy of hers that she had whispered to me in the dark of my room one night when I told her I wanted to know what she was thinking of. It was a fantasy I planned on fulfilling, just not here and definitely not with her brother close by, even though that would add an element of danger that would make her moan for me.

I slowly moved off of her, missing the heat of her body against mine the moment I stepped away. Bella remained silent as I opened the door for her while motioning her inside just like I did most afternoons that she came to see me. Just like most afternoons the door had barely closed when Bella threw herself upon me, knocking me back into the wall with her body weight as she embraced me. Her slight form knocked the air out of my lungs as her lips covered mine in a kiss that I welcomed by pulling her tighter against me, just like I did each day she meet me at work. It was that kiss that would lead to another and then another until I had her pinned against the table instead of eating what sandwich she had made for me, but today was different. Today she stopped me as I held her there with my crushed lunch in hand.

"Edward?" she questioned with a nervous look.

"Yes?" I replied, drawing out the word yes as I waited to resume my kissing along the soft skin of her neck.

"Every year the hospital has a masquerade ball to kick off flu season," she began in a rambling tone that made me chuckle since Bella was never the type to ramble. She was direct, too direct at times, but this time she seemed to be tripping over her own tongue.

"You have a party for the kick off of flu season?" I teased her, knowing damn well what she meant, but dying to see her blush since she rarely did so any more.

"You hospital types are a little sick, you know?" I continued to tease as she swatted me and huffed out her response.

"It's to raise money for free flu shots for kids in school," she explained in a huff of irritation that was beyond cute.

"Anyway, I was wondering if you'd go with me…" she stated and then trailed off to nothing, letting her question linger in the air around us for a moment before beginning to ramble her nonsense once more.

"I mean, I think it would be…." She stated with a firm tone that made me laugh, even though my laughter was not helping the situation at all.

"Bella, are you asking me out?" I quizzed her as I continued to hold her there, pinning her between my body and the table just as she tried to squirm out of my embrace. She was embarrassed and it was adorably shocking since I had never seen Bella McCarty embarrassed about anything before.

"I was just saying that I think it would be beneficial…" she began again, explaining away why she asked me, not that it mattered to me. She had asked and that's all that had mattered. She rarely asked me for anything, it was always me chasing after her, so this awkward request was just enough to thrill me, yet leaving me feeling physically ill.

"Bella, Bella, Bella," I shushed her as I brought my hands up to cup her face, holding her still so she could see me as I tried to stop her babbling before it wrecked the high that came with her asking me.

"Are you asking me out?" I demanded as she continued to ramble. My question did nothing to silence her while causing her to look away from me what could only be embarrassment.

"Because if you are, then it's a yes," I stated in a firm tone that I hoped told her how happy I was that she asked me at all.

"I'll go with you," I stated my promise to her as she finally looked at me once more.

"I mean, while Riley knows about you I think it's important that he sees us together," she continued to explain with a tone that was clipped and business like. It was that hard edge to her that surfaced every time Riley's name was spoken. I hated that tone almost as much as I hated the pinched look on her face whenever she referred to him. It was his name that was just enough to wreck the buzz of her asking me out.

"You'll go?' she questioned me as if I hadn't promised her that I would. It was ridiculous for her to even think that I would ever even say no.

"When we started this thing you said no dates, and while this isn't really a date, I just… I just need you there. You understand, right?" she asked in a nervous fashion as she watched me with a worried look.

"Of course, I understand," I chided with a grin as she smiled happily in response.

"Yeah, it'll be fun," I lied with a weak grin that made her laugh, filling the small space between us with her happiness as I swallowed bile that came with the dread every time she would mention the original terms of our agreement.

**AN:**

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**Sorry for the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	51. Chapter 51

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

I jogged up the stairs to Bella's apartment as I felt the spike in nervous energy reach a fevered pitch. I hadn't been there in about a week and neither had she since most spent with me. It was easier that way. I lived closer to the hospital than what she did. I had a washer and dryer so she could do laundry whenever she wanted, but the truth was I just liked having her with me. It was different and it changed the empty silence of my apartment to a dull chaos that I was learning to love.

I reached her door with record speed, embarrassing myself with my anxious need to see her. I told myself it was since I had no idea what she was dressing up as since her parting remarks to me when I asked was, but that was a lie and I knew it.

_Don't worry about it, Edward. I got this._

It was a ridiculous statement since she knew I worried about everything. It was my nature and there was no avoiding it.

I didn't bother to knock on the door, instead opting to use the key she had given me one Saturday morning that she had to work so I could get the dress she planned on wearing that night.

"Bella?" I called out as I entered the apartment, not wanting to scare her, yet kinda wanting to take her by surprise so I could see the damn costume she was hiding from me.

"Hey!" she yelled happily in response as I did not bother to wait for her, instead walked down the hall to find her.

"I'm not dressed!" she yelled in protest before slamming her bedroom door just as I reached her doorway.

"It's not like I haven't seen you naked before," I groaned into the wooden door only to hear her laugh at me from the other side.

"Go have a drink and calm the fuck down. I'll be right out," she commanded as I stood there, trying the door handle while searching the door jamb for the poking device that would unlock the one sided lock, but found nothing, but dust on the ledge.

"Fine," I muttered with a low curse while Bella continued to laugh at me my perseverance to see her. I with a tired sigh slung my bag of arrows over my shoulder and took hold of my bow before walking back down the hall after failing on my mission to take the girl by surprise.

The front door flung open as I entered the front room, causing me to jump in surprise as Tanya stormed inside with a crazed look on her over painted face. We stood there facing each other, taking in the others costume for the evening. I could not stop the snicker that escaped my lips as I noticed her short, white skin tight dress that barely covered her ass and white nurse's hat that sat upon her stylized head.

"You dressed up like a slutty nurse?" I giggled as I watched her eyes narrow with hatred as she glared at me while her ruby red painted lips scrunched up in a scowl.

"Isn't that like every day for you?" I cackled as she charged at me in anger.

"Fuck you!" she bellowed at me while swatting at me in anger, landing a few good blows that stung like a bitch on my exposed arms.

"Not even with a loaner dick would I consider fucking you," I howled with laughter as she continued to hit me progressively harder before being abruptly pulled off of me.

"I can't leave you two alone for one fucking second can I?" I heard Bella hiss in frustration, but didn't look like Bella. It was her, yet it wasn't since her dark hair was replaced with ginger red, but that wasn't the only change in my mild mannered girl. She was decked out in a leather outfit that hugged her curves perfectly in such a way that she looked both lethal and so damn sexy that it hurt to look at her.

"Wow," I whispered as I took her in as one of my comic book fantasy girls.

"You like?" Bella asked with a wide grin that seemed whiter against the red lipstick that I had never seen her wear before.

"You look beautiful," I whispered, unable to take my eyes off of her as I watched the familiar and long absence blush grace her pale cheeks in the loveliest of ways.

"You shut up," she mumbled while trying to down play my compliment as she shrugged me off.

"I know that you've always had it bad for The Black Widow so whatever Edward," she tried to pass me by, but I could see the pleased grin on her face.

"Yeah, maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that you always look beautiful," I replied as quickly as I could as Tanya gagged in response.

"Not for you Bella, but for him," Tanya corrected as Bella looked at her with a stunned expression.

"You look hot. I love the hair. I wasn't sure when you said you were dying it, but you're right. It looks better than any wig," she commented with a thoughtful expression while looking at Bella as if she were studying her instead of trying to offer a compliment.

"You dyed your hair?" I questioned, causing Bella to look back at me with a worried look.

"It's a temp dye. It'll wash out," she explained, but I didn't mind. The red was different and oddly hot for such a dramatic change.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Tanya asked me with a shove.

"I'm Hawkeye, trained assassin, master marksman and member of The Avengers," I explained with a wave towards my black outfit as if she should know who the hell I was trying to be for the evening.

"Go easy on her, Edward. Tanya doesn't speak geek," Bella teased as I watched her scurry around, shutting off the lights so we could leave.

"Geeks," Tanya scoffed while rolling her eyes as Bella laughed at her as she walked back down the hall away from me, continuing to shut off lights before returning with her overnight bag.

"Where the fuck are you going?" Tanya demanded as I took her bag from her.

"We're staying in the hotel so we don't have to drive," Bella explained she searched for her keys with a confused look upon her face before realizing that I was holding them for her.

"Sure… So you don't have to drive," Tanya mocked as Bella ignored her while turning to face me with a nervous grin that only made her look endearing, not like the lethal assassin she was supposed to be.

"Whatever, Bella," she mocked before announcing she was leaving to wait for Seth.

"I'll see you there," Tanya called out to Bella while ignoring me as we followed her out.

"Thanks for the warning," I mumbled as Bella snickered while Tanya took one last slap at my arm before walking away from us.

"You ready?" she asked me with a wide smile as she motioned towards the empty hall while motioning for us to go before taking hold of my hand in hers.

**AN:  
Thanks for reading!**

**Sorry about the mistakes.**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	52. Chapter 52

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The ball room was dark and dangerous looking with its low lights casting eerie shadows on the wall.

"I love this time of year," Bella whispered to me as she leaned closer to me as we pressed closer to the wall while waiting for our drinks, but I was only half listening as I watched her face and the shadows that played across her features.

"I remember," I commented and then watched her smile a pleased grin that always graced her lips when I would tell her how I remembered her. She had no idea that as of recent I could not stop thinking about her. She would occupy my mind with random thoughts about her now and even then.

"You want to dance?" I asked as we watched the other couples on the dance floor grinding against each other in what was a poor display of entertainment.

"Maybe in a bit, but first I want you to tell me what that phone call was about?" she asked me, finally putting words to her curiosity from the call I had received from Unity Point Hospital back in our home town. I had applied in a fit just trying to prove to her that I was not stuck in a rut, even though it was the truth. I had no idea when applied for the Lean Project Manager position that they would take me seriously enough to want to interview me. Bella had caught me in the middle of my phone interview one morning before work and had remained unusually quiet about it afterwards. Well, she had been quiet until now.

"It was a phone interview," I explained to her without telling her anything more since I didn't want to discuss it since there was no point to it really. I wasn't sure if I would take the job if offered to me since I had a new reason to stay in Chicago and she was standing before me with her brown eyes narrowing as she sought out the truth in my eyes.

"I applied for a job back home in Iowa," I offered to her without telling since it was the last thing I wanted to discuss it since it was nothing. There was no job offer. It was an interview and nothing more.

"I bet you're excited," she said with a wistful look in her dark eyes that were painted black with eyeliner. She looked far removed from the Bella I knew and more like the Russian assassin she was pretending to be.

"Not really," I tried to explain as she pulled me by my hand out on to the dance floor with a smile that was every bit as lethal as the damn leather body suit she was wearing, but it was clear she didn't hear me over the music that was blaring around us.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading! Sorry about the mistakes.**

**To answer a question; yes, they will tell each other that they care, but right now there is still a trust issue between them. **

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


	53. Chapter 53

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

The music was loud, but no so loud that I couldn't hear the low hitch in her voice as she whispered my name as I kissed along her jaw while holding her close to me as we danced. It was that hitch followed by a low rumble in her throat as her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me in the direction of which she wanted my kisses to go, that made me smile since I knew my kisses were wearing her down.

"Let's leave," I whispered against her lips before kissing her softly so that I could taste the whipped cream flavored vodka mixed with strawberry on her lips. It was sweet, yet had the bitter burn of alcohol that made me want to taste her again.

"You have to be patient," she giggled softly as I grabbed her ass while pulling her even closer to me, as if there had been space between us. There wasn't. She was pressed tight against me and my firm hold upon her hips or ass had nothing to do with it. She was just there, urging me on with her soft smiles and warm embrace as she held me close.

Patience had never been a virtue of mine, yet when it came to Bella it was all I ever had. I was always waiting on the girl for some reason or another and this night would be no different.

"I want to take you upstairs and peel this ridiculous outfit off you," I whispered into her ear as I traced the curve of her hips with my finger tips, letting the smooth spandex ease my touch as she clung to me tighter.

"I thought you liked The Black Widow?" she questioned in a breathless tone as she pulled away from me just enough to meet my gaze. There was a hint of worry in her voice that made me want to smile since it was clear that she just didn't get it.

"I do like The Black Widow," I assured her as she looked at me with dark eyes that were glassy from the drinks that we had shared.

"I just like you better, that's all," I whispered to her before stealing a kiss as she giggled response.

"You are so full of shit," she laughed loudly causing the old couple that had been watching us to turn and stare at us once more.

"You never believe me," I tsk'd with a mocking sad face to cover up the twisted sting of rejection that followed her laughter.

"Oh, poor Edward," she teased with a warm grin that made me smile with her in spite of her mocking me.

"Everyone is so mean to you," she soothed me with her mocking words and saucy grin. It was a grin that I knew all too well since it typically was followed by some smart ass comment that I had come to expect from the girl.

"Not everyone. Just you," I grumbled only to be silenced by a kiss that took me by surprise.

"I'll make it up to you. I promise," she teased in-between quick kisses that were punctuated with her laughter. It was the sweetest promise she had ever made me.

"Excuse me, if you two are done dry humping in front of Dr. Mercer and his wife, we could use your help now, Bella," I heard Tanya bitch as Bella's laughter died along with the kisses she had been giving me.

"Go away," I muttered to Tanya as I looked down at my girl whose cheeks now matched the flame red of her hair.

"Not a chance douche bag. This is Bella's show and she knows it," Tanya bitched as I refused to look at her, instead focusing on Bella who continued to hold me as close as what I held her.

"Besides Riley is waiting," Tanya said in hiss as if the pompous ass waiting on Bella meant anything to me.

"Who gives a fuck," I commented drily as I watched Bella, trying to take my cues from the girl who suddenly turned to look around us with a worried look that surprised me.

"Says the guy who is nothing but bait," Tanya snorted as I followed Bella's gaze to the corner where Dr. Biers stood. He was dressed in a suit with a cape making him out to be the lamest looking vampire I had ever seen, but that's what bothered me. It was the sick look on his face as stared at Bella.

"Look at him Bells," Tanya gushed on as I felt her grip on my shoulders slowly loosen, leaving me with an empty feeling as she slowly let me go.

"You've got him on the ropes!" Tanya laughed with glee as I Continued to hold Bella as she tried to untangle herself from my embrace.

"Tanya," Bella said in a soft tone, but I could hear the pleading in her voice. It was that pleading that set off a ripple of what felt a lot like panic tear through me.

"I mean it, Bells. I had my doubts about your dumb plan here with douche bag," Tanya rambled as she waved her hand towards me as if I wasn't there with the girl's lipstick smeared on my lips from kissing her.

"But honestly, Bee, it was fucking brilliant!" she exclaimed happily as Bella seemed to flinch in response to her words.

"Go," Bella shooed her, causing her friend to stumble in surprise.

"I'll be right there so we can get this night over with," Bella grumbled as she scowled at her friend who seemed oblivious to the scowl that my girl wore.

"Fine, but don't take too long. He is waiting you know," Tanya urged her with a look that I knew meant something, but what it was I wasn't sure and honestly I didn't care. I didn't care what she had to say or what she was trying to accomplish, all that mattered to me was the bottle job red head who was still holding on to me, even though that hold was slipping.

I looked down at her and knew I needed to say something.

I needed to say something or make some grand gesture, but what that gesture would be I had no idea. Instead, I was left standing there, holding on to a girl who had lost her smile and I hated it.

"You're mine tonight," I whispered to her, reminding myself as well as her to whom she belonged to, even if it was for a night.

My words startled her enough that she broke the gaze she was sharing with the other man to actually look at me once more. Her eyes were dark and there was a dangerous look to them as she stared at me. I could see the question in them that she was trying to hide and for that I was thankful since I had no real answer to the question she was asking. I had no answer to anything. I just knew I wanted her and it was a want that I wasn't used to. It was more than sex with her. It was more than comfort and it had far surpassed the need for revenge against a former lover. There was something with Bella that kept me up at night and made me think of her when she wasn't around. It was something that I needed her to acknowledge even though I had no words to give her as a name for what it was with us.

Without the words to say, I was left with action and that action came in the form of a kiss that was flavored with vodka and my odd desperation.

"Don't forget," I whispered, reminding her as I looked into her dark eyes while marveling over the gold and green that I could see in them as we stood in shadows of the crowded ball room.

**AN:**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Xoxo**

**Mamasutra**


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